Henri Cartier-Bresson

May 24, 2005

In the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson, we see an intuitive instinct for capturing decisive moments. His striking photographs thrust him to the forefront of leading photographers of the 20th Century, and now in his 95th year he remains the same reserved, astute observer, shunning the limelight. A recent retrospective of his work at the French National Library in Paris coincided with the creation of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, the first private foundation dedicated to photography in France.

His obsession with 'decisive moments' took him to the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi in 1948 and to the Mahasamadhi of Sri Ramana Maharshi in April, 1950. Working as a press photographer he traveled throughout Asia and apparently made at least one earlier visit to Sri Ramanasramam in 1948.

It was he who Arthur Osborne coolly recollects in his Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self Knowledge:

For a few moments people stood bewildered. The singing continued. The French press-photographer came up to me and asked at what precise minute it had happened. Resenting it as journalistic callousness, I replied brusquely that I did not know, and then I suddenly recalled Sri Bhagavan's unfailing courtesy and answered precisely that it was 8.47. He said, and I could hear now that he was excited, that he had been pacing the road outside and at that very moment an enormous star had trailed slowly across the sky. Many had seen it, even as far away as Madras, and felt what it portended.

It passed to the northeast towards the peak of Arunachala.

Not only did Cartier-Bresson have the privilege of observing this light, which appeared at the moment of the Maharshi physical demise, he is distinguished for taking the last photos of the Master. This photograph along with another of the Maharshi's body the morning after the Mahasamadhi, appears in his collection of Indian photographs, titled Henri Cartier-Bresson In India. Three other photos of Sri Ramanasramam appear in this volume.

His two visits to the ashram suggest both an insight into the Maharshi's place in history and an understanding of the Sage's sublime spiritual personality. It certainly would be interesting to speak with him on this matter and browse through the numerous photos he must have taken during these visits.

(From The Maharshi Newsletter, Jul-Aug 2003)

This photo, taken by the famous French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson in 1948, shows the Maharshi's favorite white peacock in full glory.

Henri Cartier-Bresson:

"For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to “give a meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.

To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.

To take a photograph means to recognize – simultaneously and within a fraction of a second– both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.

It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis."