Houston, Etats-Unis, 1957
Gelatin silver print
23.9 x 35.6 cm (9 7/16 x 14 in.)
Two couples in a slanting frame observe each other on a street in Houston, Texas. A sleeping African-American woman and an awake white man snuggle a young child in their arms.
The subject may look innocuous, but Houston, United States, 1957 subtly expresses the racial segregation that tore American society apart in the 1950s. The photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, then working for Magnum, lived in the southern United States and made a series from Texas to North Carolina. This print, which belongs to that series, evokes the daily lives of Americans in the midst of social and racial inequality.
Houston, United States, 1957 will be exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the “Au-delà de la couleur” ("Beyond Colour") show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in June 2021.
