Description
For many centuries, artists have travelled to Pondicherry to document its serene vistas—a fascinating amalgamation of Christian and local elements in architecture, as well as its unique urban sprawl. Antiquarian maps from the 18th and 19th centuries reveal an intricately Europeanised town, showcasing a shared use of motifs and style. The subsequent arrival of commercial photographers like Bourne and Shepherd, or the mysterious French photographer C. Moyne, brought forth expansive visuals of citadels, churches, and broadening tree-lined boulevards.
Originating from an exhibition of the same title, this publication traces the development of photography alongside other allied visual documents from Pondicherry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawn exclusively from The Alkazi Collection of Photography, the absolute core of this initiative is an unpublished album by the renowned French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, co-founder of Magnum Photos. Cartier-Bresson visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in April 1950 and took the very last pictures of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh in the company of his spiritual companion, ‘the Mother’. Furthermore, his meticulously penned observations create a rich meta-text, offering a biographical supplement to his photographic endeavour.
This material is brilliantly complemented by extraordinary, previously unpublished images taken by Indian practitioners from the same period, such as Tara Jauhar and Venkatesh Shirodkar. Mastering the Lens makes a conscious effort to reveal a non-linear yet deeply credible visual history of Pondicherry, exploring the subtle interplay between cultural context, architectural tropes, and artistic intent.
Table of Contents:
- Renewing Ties
- Linking India and France through the Art of Photography
- The Enduring Image
- Silent as an Apparition
- A Hidden Legacy of Photography
- Mastering the Lens
- Before and After Cartier-Bresson in Pondicherry
- Brief Note on Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Photography
- Biography of Photographers
- About the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation
- Select Bibliography
About the Contributors & The Collection:
H.E. Mr. François Richier: The former French Ambassador to India.
Rahaab Allana: Curator of the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts.
Shilpi Goswami & Deepak Bharathan: Archivist and Research Scholar, respectively, at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts.
Prof. Kittu Reddy: A scholar who came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1936 at the age of five, teaching History and the Social Thought of Sri Aurobindo.
The Alkazi Collection of Photography: An immense archive that illuminates the progression of socio-political life in the Indian subcontinent from the emergence of photography in 1840 up to the independence of modern India in 1947.
Mastering the Lens: Before and After Cartier-Bresson in Pondicherry
Curated by Rahaab Allana
Introductions by H.E. Mr. François Richier | Contributions by Shilpi Goswami, Deepak Bharathan, Prof. Kittu Reddy, Jennifer Chowdhry
Book Specifications:
- Category: Photography / History & Heritage
- Pages: 84 pages
- Illustrations: 77 photographs
- Dimensions: 9.5 x 9″ (241 x 229 mm), Softcover (sc) with gatefold
- ISBN: 978-81-89995-73-7
- Date of Publishing: 2012
- Language: English
- Publisher: Mapin in association with The Alkazi Collection of Photography (Supported by the Embassy of France, India, and Alliance Française de Delhi)
- Rights Available: World rights
