Temperaments: Memoirs of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Other Artists

by Dan Hofstadter

In these five profiles, four of which originally appeared in the  New Yorker , the author evokes the life and work of seven gifted artists. Among those presented, often through lively conversations, are Jean Hélion, Mark Rothko, R.B. Kitaj, and Dennis Creffield. Chief among those portrayed however is Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), the great French photographer and photojournalist who, famed for dodging contact with the press, is here sketched in rare and fond detail. Of all these artists, only two still what emerges from this book is a picture, often bizarre, often hilarious, of a bygone bohemian world. 

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 21, 1992

About the author

Dan Hofstadter’s last book was The Love Affair as a Work of Art, a study of French writers. Falling Palace, about daily life in contemporary Naples, was published in 2005.

Reviews

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New York Public Library