A Javanese Dancer: a Focal Point in Henris Life
One of the sources of esthetic inspiration for Henri Cartier-Bresson is Retna Mohini, a Javanese dancer and his first wife.
June 4, 2002
The old brochure accompanying the works of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson recently on display at the National Archives in Jakarta had lost its shade of brown. But the prints were still clearly legible:
Retna Mohini is Madame Cartier-Bresson. Her maiden name was Caroline Jeanne de Souza. Born May 17, 1904 to a Eurasian family in Meester Cornelis, a Portuguese enclave in the suburb of Batavia, Retna moved to Rembang in Central Java
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