Henri Cartier-Bresson
(Pranab:) “Now let me tell you about Cartier-Bresson's taking photos here.
Once, in Europe, and especially in France, there was a strong rumour that Sri Aurobindo had left his body long ago and that in his place a dummy was being dressed up and shown to people four times a year. This was because for a very long period Sri Aurobindo did not allow himself to be photographed.
These false rumours came to Mother's ears and she thought that a famous international photographer like Cartier-Bresson was the best person to silence them by taking his photos.
That is why Mother permitted him to take Sri Aurobindo's photos on certain conditions. One, all the pictures by him would be shown to her and only after obtaining her permission would they be made public. Two, all the negatives had to be deposited with us. If his photos were to be printed abroad prior permission had to be obtained from Mother and similar other conditions.
Bresson agreed to all her conditions and took the photos.
We offered to get his negative developed here in Chimanbhai dark-room. But Bresson did not agree to this. He said he would have them developed in France and send them to us.
He left for France. For a long time we didn't hear from him. We wrote many letters but there was no answer.
We started worrying a little.
After quite some time we were surprised to find Sri Aurobindo's photos both in Indian and foreign newspapers. Even the Darshan photos of Mother and Sri Aurobindo had been reproduced. The Illustrated Weekly of India too published some pictures.
So we wrote to Cartier-Bresson to send us the photos. What he sent us were some small photos of half-passport size. They had a lot of scratches and no copies could be made.
In the meantime Sri Aurobindo left his body.
In despair, we wrote to Cartier-Bresson that there was no question of not paying him as these were priceless negatives and we were willing to pay him any price. But on condition that the negatives be deposited with us.
He did finally send them but for those few negatives he charged us eighteen thousand rupees.
Later Mother remarked that if she had had the photos taken by us, it would have been much better.”[1]
(Letter from Cartier-Bresson to Pavitra, 13 April 1950, translated from the French:) “I represent an association of photographers called Magnum Photos. This agency, whose headquarters are in New York, distributes our photographic reportages to the principal magazines of the world. My own reportages have appeared in Life, Harper’s Bazar, Réalités, Illustrated, etc.
…I was introduced to the works of Sri Aurobindo by the translations of Jean Herbert.…
I and my wife, who is Indonesian, wish very much to come to the Ashram for the next darshan and I would be extremely grateful to you if you could provide me with the authorization to make a photographic testimony of the life of the Ashram at the time of the darshan and during the days that precede it.”[2]
(Henri Cartier-Bresson:) “The morning after Darshan [i.e. on 25 April] I went to thank the Mother for giving me permission to take their picture at Darshan, but I told her that the conditions of the light there would make the results most unsatisfactory to the disciples who were expecting a portrait as clear as the one in circulation now. She told me that is what they wanted from me, some indistinguishable shadow of themselves; this I had fully succeeded. Mother was so helpful and she convinced Sri Aurobindo and I came in his bedroom with my camera. The room was so neat and tidy and impersonal. Sri Aurobindo did not wink an eye during the entire ten minutes I was watching him, he did not seem to belong to that impersonal setting.
I took pictures of Anu dancing, of the dining hall building, of Dr. Banerjee. More photos of the 1.30 p.m. daily ritual with the Mother. Also of her tossing flowers off the balcony. She gives out candies (very good ones too) to the gymnastiques [sic]. Mother sleeps only 3 or 4 hours a night. The very nice Bengali gentleman who was taking us around, referred often to Mother’s trances such as: “Mother is not coming down now, she might still be in a trance.”
I took pictures of Pondicherry streets at a time when most of the disciples were indoors and the streets were full of heat and silence. I took color shots too in Kodachrome. I took pictures of Nolini Gupta, the Secretary of the Ashram at 5 p.m. I took pictures of the daily tennis game. I took pictures of Pranab, a young strong Bengali Director of Physical Culture in the Ashram. He is one of the persons closest to the Mother. I took pictures of Pavitra, he is a calm person of great affability and kindness.
While children were doing gymnastics Mother in a little room by the Playground was giving a French lesson to some pupils. They were analysing a text; Mother was asking them what is the difference between success and perfection.”[3]
- ↑ Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, I Remember...', p.43
- ↑ www.sriaurobindoashram.org, "The Last Photographs of Sri Aurobindo" [link inactive]
- ↑ Ibid.
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