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Masks and Banners in Anti-US Shanghai Parade

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1949

Artist:

Henri Cartier-Bresson
French, 1908–2004

About this artwork

In this photograph of a parade celebrating the anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding, a man dressed as Uncle Sam walks down the Bund, a historic waterfront in Shanghai that was home in the 1940s to foreign consulates, trading houses, and banks. He is followed by “servants” wearing dog masks. Henri Cartier-Bresson captured this image while covering decolonization in Asia, traveling with his wife, Ratna Mohini, to India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and China.

While photographing Beijing in 1948, Cartier-Bresson was expelled from the city after its takeover by the People’s Liberation Army. He fled south to Shanghai, where he witnessed the collapse of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government and the city’s embrace of Communist rule.

Status

On View, Gallery 10

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Title

Masks and Banners in Anti-US Shanghai Parade

Place

France (Object made in:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1949

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image/paper: 34.1 × 23.2 cm (13 7/16 × 9 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Richard and Ellen Sandor in honor of John Bryan

Reference Number

2006.624

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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