Photographic moments in history – The announcement of the death of the great spiritual leader and preacher of nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi, by Nehru (India, January 30, 1948)
Famous photographer Henri Cartier – Bresson, with his lens, captures an emotionally charged scene for the Indian nation, while Indian Prime Minister Nehru announces to the crowd that Gandhi is dead.
A series of events led to Henri Cartier-Bresson being the only photographer to capture Gandhi’s last moments, and then the moment of death’s announcement.
Let’s take things from the beginning (and a little from the end):
“Friends and companions, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere,” thus begins the announcement of the death of Mahatma Gandhi, by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, addressing one of the most important speaches in history on January 30, 1948.
A few months earlier, in September 1947, Henri Cartier-Bresson arrived in India to document the course of the country’s independence from British rule. He is one month late, because the British have left on August 15, but the country is still in a state of turmoil and conflict, with losses counting 500,000 lives, so he has many more to photograph.
On January 30, 1948, Henri Cartier – Bresson, due to the close friendship of his wife, Ratna Mohini, with one of Nehru’s sisters, was invited to meet and photograph Gandhi. The meeting lasts half an hour and the resulting photos are the last to show Gandhi alive. Twenty-five minutes after Bresson’s departure, Gandhi is murdered by a fanatical.
That night, India’s clearly shocked Prime Minister Nehru will announce Gandhi’s death to the crowd outside his home.
Bresson is there, too, but he has a very difficult picture to take, especially for a photographer who never uses flash. He takes it, while holding his breath. An agitated mob, Nehru’s face blurred, the English officer’s face next to Nehru, half-lit and nightmarish lights from various directions, are captured by the photographers Leica.
A photo, reflecting a moment that our minds can hardly capture, has been created.
Source: Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History – The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency – Russell Miller
