Legendary dancer Retna, Cartier-Bresson's Indonesian influence

Legendary dancer Retna, Cartier-Bresson's Indonesian influence

Kunang Helmi-Picard, Contributor, Paris

As an Indonesian student in the 1970s, I was first struck by
the poetry conveyed by a Henri Cartier-Bresson print in London.
Years later, in 1990, when I was asked by Tempo magazine to
interview the great photographer in Paris, I tried to imagine
what the man behind the photos would be like in person.

The interview, which was very difficult to arrange, took place
in his studio in central Paris, home to him and his first wife.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was more interested in drawing and painting
rather than photography. The first impression was of piercing
blue eyes behind round glasses, matching blue scarf, a slim
figure and a way of discretely blending into his surroundings.

At 82, he was reputed to be very shy, yet he was clearly a
sharp observer. He was unfailingly courteous, but also extremely
critical and prone to defending his ideas vigorously. In short,
he was (and continues to be at 93 today) a youthful and riveting
personality.

Hardly anyone, apart from his fellow Magnum agency members,
had ever taken his photo, or dared to. Broaching the subject of
his first marriage to an Indonesian dancer and poet, as well as
an exciting period of history 40 years ago, proved to be a
delicate task.

Our readers were interested in what the consummate
photographer remembered of the Zaman Revolusi (Revolutionary
Era). The habitual Cartier-Bresson response was: "I have no
memory. The contact prints are my memory."

Fortunately when viewing the contact prints, he did indeed
recollect many details, including numerous anecdotes betraying a
deep sympathy for Indonesians, as well as a wonderful sense of
humor.

At a second meeting, when I asked him how he took photos
because young Indonesian photographers would naturally want to
follow his instructions, he was understandably impatient in his
response.

As he gestured in a Parisian cafe near the Tuileries Gardens,
he conveyed an unforgettable impression of fleeting, rhythmic
movement. A seemingly effortless dance in pursuit of light and
dark, magically transformed into countless patterns of myriad
gray tones between black and white.

Suddenly he turned again to me and exclaimed: "But why write
about me, you should write about Retna! She was with me in
Indonesia at the time."

I did not know that she had recently passed away in France at
the age of 84. After her death, Cartier-Bresson (they divorced in
1965) and his second wife, Martine Franck, herself an excellent
photographer, published a short bilingual choice of Retna's poems
titled Our festive shadows.

Thus began the passionate adventure of tracing the life of
Retna Cartier-Bresson. Her career as a dancer in Europe was
interrupted by World War II, but she continued to dance after the
war when she accompanied the photographer to America and the
newly awakened nations of Asia. Despite her profession, she was a
discrete lady whom one can sometimes perceive in the background
of his photos.

She also possessed a firm character, was as equally as
observant as her husband, an Ibu as one would say in Indonesia,
often soberly dressed in a dark kain kebaya.

Her story is intertwined with that of 20th century Indonesia.
It was a century that witnessed the birth of Bung Karno in June
1901, preceding that of Carolina Jeanne de Souza -- later to be
called Retna -- at Meester Cornelius (now the Jatinegara area),
the "Portuguese" suburb of Batavia, on May 17, 1904.

Many born at the same time were the future leaders of
Indonesia's elite whom Ratna was to meet while she traveled the
world with Henri Cartier-Bresson, as many perhaps as the future
leaders of French cultural and political circles whom she met
while living in France.

Although mainly of Javanese origin, Retna was an Indo-
European, and was a lively personality who mastered several
languages. Her friends called her "Eli", short for Carolina. She
attended school in Rembang, Central Java, and Surabaya, following
her mother and step-father, a wealthy customs officer.

Endowed with an independent spirit, Ratna was already
interested in theater and danced when young. After a brief
marriage in 1932 to Willem L. Berretty, the editor of the
Sukabumi Post, she continued to perfect various dance techniques.

She then left the East Indies in 1935 as the assistant of the
entrepreneur Keuzenkamp and made her way to Paris. This petite
and agile silhouette, with a pretty round face and lively dark
eyes, made her appearance on the cosmopolitan Parisian scene of
Montparnasse in 1936, a Javanese dancer destined to become a true
Parisienne.

Once in Paris, she took lessons in Indian dance and met the
young photographer Cartier-Bresson. Ignoring the displeasure of
his family, they were married in 1937. Then they immediately left
for Spain where Cartier-Bresson made a documentary film for the
Republicans.

Upon returning to the French capital, she met the famous
Indian dancer Ram Gopal. While together with him and her husband
in India, the renowned teacher Ravunni Menon taught her the lasya
style, appropriate for feminine roles in Kathakali dance. By now,
also known by her stage name "Retna Mohini", she was according to
Gopal, an extraordinarily flexible dancer, due to her training in
Javanese dance and was consequently perfectly suited to his dance
group.

She danced at the Salle Pleyel and the Archives de la Danse in
Paris. The poet Jean Cocteau was so overcome by her talent that
he kneeled down before her in homage. She was also acclaimed at
the Delphi Theatre in London, which resulted in an enthusiastic
article by the famous dance critic Beryl de Zoete. Retna was the
Javanese dance partner of Sumitro Djojohadikusumo when the two
contributed to fund-raising appeals for Republican Spain by Andre
Malraux before the war.

During the war she found refuge with a family of farmers near
Chambord. Once the war was over, she accompanied her husband in
his photographic jaunts throughout the countries of Asia that
were freeing themselves from colonial bonds. It is during this
period that most of the photos in the coming Jakarta exhibition
of Cartier-Bresson's works were taken. Although Retna was soon to
depart yet once more, she was back in Asia after 14 eventful
years in Europe.

The photo exhibition Indonesie, 1949 of works by Henri
Cartier-Bresson opens at the National Archives building on
Tuesday.