Not great.

I finally made it to the Cartier-Bresson show at SF MOMA and have to say it was underwhelming.

There are four ‘periods’ in HC-B’s work:

• The surrealist masterpieces 1931 -1951
• The photojournalism – tourist snaps of China and Russia before they opened up
• The portraits of famous people
• America

The first is a beacon for modern photographers and was poorly shown, replete with low contrast small prints poorly lit, many yellowed. The curse of the ‘original print’ which I described here. Sure, his technique wasn’t the greatest, his exposure all over the place, but the work is definitive. It needs better display than MOMA managed. It’s this period that haunts, amazes and inspires.

The second is blah. Notable only for the fact that no Westerner had photographed these exotic places before.

The third has generally left me cold but I’m warming to it after this show. Too bad they didn’t include those two great shots of Giacometti crossing the street in the rain and moving one of his sculptures in the studio.

The fourth? Well, he sees only the crassness and vulgarity in America, something the show’s narrative repeats. He just does not ‘get’ America but, then again, he was French – an honorable excuse!

It’s on for another week, then moves to Atlanta. The MOMA show has too many mediocre works and displays over 200 pieces. 80 would have done it.

As you can see it was zooed, making the small prints even harder to enjoy.