The twentieth century was that of the image, and the legendaryphotographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, born in 1908, was the eyeof the century.Cartier-Bresson was always on the spot, recording historicevents as they happened. His work focused on Mexico in the 1930s,the tragic fate of the Spanish Republicans, the liberation of Paris,the weariness of Gandhi a few hours before his assassination, andthe victory of the Chinese Communists. It was he who fixed foreverin our minds the features of famous contemporaries: Giacometti,Sartre, Faulkner, Camus, and others, their portraits captured foreternity at the decisive moment.An intensely private individual, Cartier-Bresson nonethelesstook Pierre Assouline into his confidence over a number of years,discussing his youthful devotion to surrealism, his lifelong passionfor drawing, his experience of war and the prison camps, his friends,and the women in his life. He even opened up his invaluable archives.