Assignment Four – ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’

Assignment four asks us to write an essay of one thousand words on an image of our choice.Henri Cartier-Bresson’s black and white image Juvisy, France has a timeless quality.  Like much of his work this particular photograph incorporates a combination of poise and balance, hinting at Cartier-Bresson’s early training as a painter, and seeming to capture the ‘decisive moment’.  As an image it serves two different aims: on one level it depicts workers spending a relaxing afternoon on the bank of the river Marne whilst on another it relays a political message referencing the progress of workers’ rights in France in the late 1930s.

The image denotes five middle-aged people picnicking by the riverside. The two men and three women are sitting apart from each other with their backs to the camera and facing towards the river with the women (one almost completely obscured) sitting nearest the river’s edge and the men slightly behind them.  All are dressed in casual summer clothing and the two men are wearing hats.  An open picnic basket is visible and two of the women can be seen eating food with their fingers. The man on the left of the image is pouring a glass of red wine whilst the other is looking across the river, and two discarded plates bearing both cutlery and the remains of food are situated in the foreground.  Two rowing boats, complete with fishing rods and lines, are moored side by side and parallel to the riverbank.  The riverbank itself is unkempt with long and coarse grass.

A number of the elements in Juvisy connote leisure and a sense of relaxation.  The picnickers, seemingly well-fed on food and wine, sit separately yet comfortably at ease with each other with the restrained conviviality and discarded plates telling us that the meal is nearing its end.  The pouring of wine suggests the continuation of an agreeable afternoon and the pervading air is one of contentment, aided by the stillness of the river and the feeling of quietness and passing of time signified by the fishing rods and lines.

At first glance Juvisy gives the impression of being a spontaneous photograph capturing the social camaraderie of a riverside picnic.  However on closer examination the image appears in my opinion to have been carefully constructed.  Formally, the composition is well-balanced by the positioning of the people within the frame and Cartier-Bresson has created structure through the use of horizontal planes and geometric shapes. The lack of horizon¹ contains and simplifies the image by holding our concentration on the narrative within the frame and, together with the careful positioning of the riverbank, assists in dividing the image into two distinct halves.  The lower section mainly focuses on the vertical and contains the activity in the image whilst the upper half concentrates on the horizontal and is still and tranquil, with reflections in the water reminiscent of a Monet painting².

Whilst both the social and political meanings of Juvisy may be recognised as its ‘studium’ (Barthes, 1982), the nearside boat piques the interest and in my opinion provides the ‘punctum’ element in the image (ibid.).  Narrow and light in the water, the boat offers a witty visual and metaphorical contrast to the awkwardness and corpulence of the picnickers and the self-indulgence of the picnic spread.

Without further context, this photograph could merely be recognisable as an image typical of Cartier-Bresson’s style; a scene with just a few characters that captures an everyday moment in time.  Yet we are aware from its journalistic history that Juvisy also contains a political statement, linking a scene of leisure to the achievement of the left-wing government in 1936 in progressing workers’ rights.  As noted by Galassi (2010) the image formed part of an assignment undertaken by Cartier-Bresson in 1938 whilst working as a salaried photographer for the Communist newspaper Ce Soir and its sibling magazine Regards.  Celebrating the success of the Popular Front government in passing a law two years earlier entitling French workers to two weeks of paid leave, Regards published an article by Georges Sadoul highlighting the improvements in working conditions and accompanied by a series of nine images from Cartier-Bresson.  Although Juvisy (at that time titled Sunday on the Banks of the Marne) was not included in the final selection for publication, it nevertheless provides us with a strong political and social commentary on working-class France in the late 1930s.

Such further contextual information allows the recognition of carefully utilised signs and signifiers that indicate the intended purpose of the image and Cartier-Bresson’s seemingly voyeuristic positioning behind the picnickers is significant in this regard.  With their backs to the camera and their faces for the most part unseen, the picnickers appear symbolic of a social type rather than as individuals.  Their clothing and demeanour signify that they belong to the working class, an inference reinforced by the unkemptness of their chosen picnic area.  The acts of eating and drinking, of sharing food and wine with others, are emblematic of abundance and good living and the portly, well-fed appearance of the picnickers is a further signifier that they find their working lives agreeable.

The reading and analysis of a photograph is by necessity personal, being largely dependent upon the viewer’s upbringing, their cultural knowledge and interests and I find Juvisy to be meaningful to me on a number of levels.  At first sight I was not aware of its political connotations and its initial appeal for me was provided by the compositional structure and visual wit. The photograph immediately spoke to me of ‘looking at looking’, introducing the concept of an additional frame of reference together with a sense of intrigue as to what this might be and how this might influence my understanding.  It is this element of intrigue, the idea of including further layers within an image to be peeled back by the viewer that I relate back to my own practice.

Although originally taken as part of a series, Juvisy demonstrates the ability of a stand-alone photograph to successfully convey a number of messages both socially and politically.  As a signifier it does not need the support of its intended companions in order to provide a directed narrative.  A journalistic record of France in the late 1930s, the subject matter is enduring yet when the image is read in its wider context we see that it carries a political message of its day.  However, whilst a photograph itself does not change, its cultural reading will alter with time.  The improvement in lifestyle signified by Juvisy in July 1938, then seemingly uninfluenced by the looming Second World War, can now be read with a trace of irony. 

Footnotes:

¹ The lack of horizon in the image is discussed further by Galassi in an excerpt of an audio-program discussing the exhibition Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2010.  The excerpt text is available from http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=49983  [accessed 13 April 2015]

² ‘The Studio Boat’ (1874) by Claude Monet is one example.

References:

Barthes, R. (1982) Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography.  London: Jonathan Cape

Cartier-Bresson, H. (1938) Juvisy, France [online image].  Museum of Modern Art. Available from  http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/968 [first accessed 10 April 2015]

Galassi, P. (2010) Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century.   London: Thames & Hudson Ltd