In Search of an Aesthetic of Non-Violence: A review by ‘another’ Manu*

The book centers on an experiment to test whether images “could possibly illustrate an aesthetic of non-violence?” and so initiates a satyagraha in itself, to establish “that there was indeed a relationship between non-violence and truth, as Gandhi had claimed” (p. 18). In this process of corroboration in book format, the Menil Collection achieves its most spectacular success. One beginning with the inspirational value of the image of Gandhi's last meagre possessions, printed on the cover of the book. Additionally, this image prepares the reader to realise why the introduction of the book is Cartier Bresson’s stark photograph of Gandhi lying in state in Birla House. The book thus establishes from the start that it has faithfully trailed Gandhi to the very end, where no one can follow, and yet invites the reader to register the scene as the ultimate truth.

Given the agenda, the volume is replete with rare photographs which track the iconic satyagrahi’s footsteps, even as Gandhi went alone into a riot-torn East Bengal after the partition of the sub-continent. In the process, the Menil collection succeeds in capturing the very core of Gandhi's  commitment to non-violence as the essence of truth or satyagraha. At the same time it draws the reader in to discern the significance of Gandhi's own connection to the aesthetics of music. In particular, the inspirational power in Tagore's thematic song  Ekla Cholo Re (Walk alone) as the clarion call to all those who believed in the path of non-violence as a creed, even if it meant walking it alone. The reader then is guided to reflect why Gandhi had insisted that self-analysis was a prerequisite for self-control, and how it is the very essence of self-governance or purna swaraj.

The book then continues through a trail of recollections to the ultimate journey of Gandhi, which began after the last few minutes captured again by Cartier Bresson’s camera. This leaves the reader alone amongst the multitude of people which accompanied the mahatma’s mortal remains to the sacred pyre.  

Through this process the Menil Collection contributes an encyclopedic engagement with Gandhi's sources of inspiration from a list of world renowned philosophers who informed his experiments with truth over time. These Gandhi explored in turn to nurture his own vision of non-violence. The illustrations record that the journey was rough from 1906 to the independence of India in 1947, and the book also captures Gandhi changing gear over time from passive to active resistance, as he comes face to face with injustice and violations of human dignity and rights.

Such is the power of the images in this collection that it is necessary to give a brief description of the Menil Collection. The list below serves to endorse the media as a historic observer of the truth in non-violence. For example: Chandrika Kaul, a media historian from St Andrews University, quotes from Percival Spear, an eminent historian,  that “India broke her British fetters with western hammers ... never in fact broken by force”. So significant was the community of ideas between the two sides. (Chandrika Kaul, Communications Media and the Imperial Experience, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, 6).

The Menil collection: A roving spirit of non-violence
The Menil Collection of Art is built around the Rothko chapel in Houston; and this book accordingly incorporates visual art in all its formats – artefacts of all kinds, sculptures, copies of famous paintings, like those by Rembrandt and, most important, photographs by the renowned Cartier Bresson. The photographer had recorded an interview with Gandhi just the day before, and photographed him minutes before the mahatma fell to the assassin’s bullets on that fateful day of January.

The concept for this book was triggered by a photograph of Gandhi's last possessions: a pair of sandals, a pair of wooden slippers, his spectacles, the three images of monkeys, and his food bowls.

The Menil Collection, in its book form, will serve as a roving art exhibition to illustrate non-violence in its multi-dimensional aspects. In this way, it reflects the very methods that the great leader himself used to draw attention to the cause. For example, Gandhi used the print media both in Johannesburg in South Africa and in Ahmedabad, India.

It is impossible to detail every area of depiction in this encyclopedic collection of artefacts, even though each tells its own significant story. Here are a few samples:

I. The images of two watches:
First watch: World War II ended at the time when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and a Japanese man had preserved this watch which stopped at exactly the same time.
Second watch: Communal riots stopped when Gandhi was assassinated. He fell over the watch, which then stopped, recording the exact time on 30 January that he died.

II. Several published articles composed by Nobel Peace Prize Winners on Gandhi's non-violence.

III. A list of the 10 most important philosophers from Gandhi's own readings, who inspired him, and others who were influenced by him.

IV. Iconic photographs recorded by Cartier Bresson right up to a few minutes before Gandhi fell to the assassin’s bullet.

V. A list of 198 methods of non-violent action.

VI. A chronology of selected non-violent and humanitarian actions.

VII. 30 Articles of universal declaration of human rights.

The Impact of the Menil collection:
The impact of the images in the book both printed and reproduced overwhelms in a metaphysical sense. Perhaps more so as this reader-reviewer belongs to the generation for whom 30 January 1948 remains an abiding memory of losing ‘none other than the Father of the Nation’, as the book sensitively portrays Gandhi.

Further, on page 334, there is a cartoon from the Chicago Times during the aftermath of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, where a seated Gandhi looks up at the slain civil rights leader and remarks “The odd thing about assassins, Dr King, is that they think that they have killed you”.

* A note on Manu: Manu was the grand-niece of Gandhi who was by his side on that fateful day. But unfortunately the book does not record her feelings. Manu was also the name of the bravest Queen Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi who fought against the British seige of Jhansi fort in the 1857 uprising against the British rule. So is Manu the pet name of this reviewer, alias Minoti as she also hails from Jhansi.