In 1940, during the Second World War, Henri Cartier-Bresson was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a work camp in the Black Forest. However, at his third attempt he managed to escape and returned to France in February 1943. Already a celebrated photographer, he managed to retrieve the camera that he had hidden before capture, and received a commission from the publisher Pierre Braun to photograph artists and writers for a book. His portrait subjects included Henri Matisse.

Sadly the planned book was never published as Matisse felt it was “too soon for the cult of personality.” Fortunately, these very rare vintage photographs, originating from the family of the publisher Pierre Braun, do survive. They give a powerful insight into Cartier-Bresson’s moving portrayal of the ageing artist. In early 1944 Cartier-Bresson visited Matisse at his villa “LeRêve” in Vence in the Alpes Maritimes where Matisse had moved just a few months earlier. Although Matisse was in poor health, Cartier-Bresson’s wonderful photography show him hard at work, drawing white doves and working from his models Micaela Avogadro and Lydia Delectorskaya.

Matisse also spent time at his home in Nice, which Cartier-Bresson also visited. As Cartier-Bresson later explained: “When I used to go and see Matisse, I’d sit in a corner, I didn’t move, we didn’t talk. It was as if we didn’t exist.” In 1947 the Museum of Modern Art gave Cartier-Bresson a retrospective exhibition, an amazing accolade for a photographer. Seven photographs from this series of Matisse were included (see installation view). Matisse and Cartier-Bresson remained in contact and in 1952 Matisse created the paper cut-out for the cover of Cartier-Bresson’s seminal book, The Decisive Moment.