Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was born on August 22, 1908, in Chanteloup, Seine-et-Marne, France, and passed away on August 3, 2004. He aspired to become a painter at around the age of 15, driven by an interest in surrealist painting. After studying under sculptor André Lhote in Paris, he was influenced by the photographs of Man Ray and began taking photographs in earnest in the United States in 1931. His snapshots taken with his Leica camera attracted attention, and in 1933 he held his first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. In the late 1930s, he also worked in filmmaking, working as an assistant to film director Jean Renoir. He was taken prisoner of war in 1940, but succeeded in escaping on his third attempt in 1943. He subsequently joined an underground organization supporting prisoners and deserters. In 1947, he founded the photography group Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, George Rodger, David Chim Seymour, and William Vandivert. After three years of traveling to the Orient, he returned to Europe in 1952 and published his first photo book, "The Decisive Moment." After 1970, he reduced his photography activities and began to focus on drawing and oil painting. In 2003, he founded the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris with his wife and daughter to manage his work. He died in 2004 at his home in the south of France.