Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/05/14

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Subject: Re: Leica-Users List Digest V1 #471
From: Carl Socolow <csocolow@microserve.net>
Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 22:25:41 -0400

You wrote:

From: Laurent SAMINADAYAR <saminad@amoco.saclay.cea.fr>
Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 15:12:48 +0200
Subject: HCB

Saw HCB's exhibitions "des europ=3DE9ens" this WE at the "maison Europ=3DE9e=
n=3D
ne de
la Photographie". Wonderful ! I strongly recommend it if you are in Paris.
Only the printings are quite bad.

Laurent.


I saw the exhibit Saturday, May 3rd. The images were wonderful, particularly
those that are iconic in this master's body of work. Like Laurent I thought
that some of the images suffered in printing; particularly the Alicante
Spain photo of the three women doing their hair- too flat.

On the other hand I was spellbound by some images I had never seen and that
represented moments in pre-World War II Europe; moments of innocence.

Finally, subscribing to this group is always enjoyable if only to follow the
dualities of technical vs. philosophic/esthetic. To see HCB's work is to see
every range of this discourse brought to life. I was amazed at how few of
his images are truly sharp and how little the technical ne plus ultra of
Leica lenses really matters. On the other hand, some of the lighting
circumstances could only have been handled by glass that I have found to be
very generous in its ability to record extremes of contrast. And, most
certainly, the ergonomics and spontaneity offered by the camera mechanism
itself have been maximized by this master.

Finally, if you have the opportunity to see this show, do stop at the Muse=
=E9
Pompidou as there are three or four photos by HCB of artists whose work is
exhibited in the museum; Alberto Giacometti in particular coming to mind.

Carl S.
"Between the ideal and the reality lies the shadow." T.S. Eliot