Martine Franck in Switzerland in 1984.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Martine Franck in Switzerland in 1984.
Martine Franck—Magnum Photos
Henri Cartier-Bresson in Italy in 1971.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Martine Franck in 1975.
Martine Franck—Magnum Photos
Henri Cartier-Bresson in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, 1995.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Martine's legs, 1967
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Our cat Ulysses and Martine's shadow, 1989.
Martine Franck—Magnum Photos
Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris, 1992.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Martine Franck at home in France, 1994.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—Magnum Photos
Martine Franck in 1986.
Theirs was a marriage of hearts and minds: Both were talented photographers and keen observers of the world. If Cartier-Bresson’s work was the result of what often seems like total immersion in a moment, Franck’s emerged from a quieter — some might argue a more detached — approach. He loved the streets, the vibrancy of the everyday; she liked working on the fringe — photographing communities on isolated Irish islands, for example — but also made portraits of creative giants like Marc Chagall and Seamus Heaney.
But it is through their elegant, often intimate, portraits of each other that we gain insight into a significant part of their relationship. And though Franck once told The Daily Telegraph that the two rarely discussed photography, the joy they must have felt at turning their lenses towards each other is readily evident in these portraits.
We see a poised shot of Franck in Venice as if waiting for a train, a smartly-dressed Cartier-Bresson sitting on a railing in Switzerland. Likewise, we catch a glimpse of Bresson after he has seemingly finished a self-portrait in Paris, and of Franck as she holds a cup to her mouth while reclining on a couch.
These beautiful images remind us that while, separately, the two were extraordinarily talented, understood together they were truly exceptional.
Richard Conway is a reporter for TIME LightBox
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