FRENCH ART DEALER PIERRE COLLE, PARIS, 1932. Silver gelatin print, printed 1980s, image size 360 x 242mm, sheet size 404 x 305mm, signed by the photographer in ink lower right margin, with the photographer's blindstamp lower left margin recto.

In 'Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work', the 1987 exhibition and monograph organised by Peter Galassi at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Galassi explores some of the earliest art world acquaintances made by a young Cartier-Bresson. Pierre Colle, the subject of this photograph was one such acquaintance, who in the early 1930s was exhibiting Surrealists and the Neo-Romantics painters in Paris. Galassi writes of this sitting, "Cartier-Bresson's portrait of Colle provides an intimate glimpse of another side of his life (p. 75). The young art dealer, topsy turvy in his disheveled bed, veteran perhaps of another wild night, will soon compose himself and put on the proper, expensive shoes that await him at the bottom of the picture." (Galassi, p.19)

Literature:

Galassi, 'Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work'. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1987, p.75.