London

1930s

Restless photography across Europe

Restless, he photographed in Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Madrid; at first he photographed little in his native France — it would be years before he shot there extensively.

1936–1939

Assistant and actor to Jean Renoir

On returning to France he applied for a job with the director Jean Renoir: he acted in “A Day in the Country” (1936) and in “The Rules of the Game” (1939), on which he was second assistant and played a butler, and in 1936 helped Renoir make “Life Belongs to Us”; Renoir made him act so that he would know how it felt to be on the other side of the camera.

1937

Married: Ratna Mohini

1937

George VI’s coronation: the crowd, not the king

His first published photojournalism appeared in 1937 in the weekly Regards: he covered the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth but photographed not the king but his adoring subjects lining the London streets; the credit read “Cartier”, as he hesitated to use his full family name.

19. Juni 1937 – 12. September 1937

Took part in: foto '37

1940

Captured at Saint-Dié

In June 1940, during the Battle of France, he was captured by German soldiers at St. Dié in the Vosges Mountains and spent 35 months in prisoner-of-war camps doing forced labour.