Why New Jersey?

A groundbreaking photographer's lost project.

- By Zach Helfand

In 1975, the renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson received an invitation to travel . from Paris to America for what would become one of his final photographic projects. Choose any subject, anywhere, he was told. His choice? New Jersey. New Jersey? He seemed delighted by his own provocation. "Why New Jersey?" he said. "Because people make such a funny face when you mention New Jersey."

Cartier-Bresson was semi-retired; he would spend the rest of his life drawing. His patron was unlikely: Jaune Evans, a young associate producer for "Assignment America," a television show on the public-broadcasting station WNET. Her proposal was to devote an episode to the project of his choosing. Her partner, a photographer named Peter Cunningham, would be his assistant. They were shocked when Cartier-Bresson accepted. When he arrived, people asked "Why New Jersey?" so often it became the episode's title.