Henri Cartier-Bresson is renowned for capturing the humour, spontaneity and universality of life in his photographs. This volume traces his artistic progression from his earliest works right up to the present, and includes images from France in the late 1920s and Mexico and Spain in the early 1930s. Compartative images by photographers such as Daguerre and Atget are included, and a selection of Cartier-Bresson's paintings and drawings are shown alongside his more famous photographs. The author analyzes his most famous images and discusses the various philosophies that inform his work, notably Zen and Surrealism.