PETER RUHE

This book introduces to the reader the life and work of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi often through rare and never before seen photography. The photographs derive from two main collections, one from the photo-archives of Gandhi’s foremost biographer Vithalbhai Jhaveri, and of Kanu Gandhi, Gandhi’s great nephew. Jhaveri made it his life’s work to collect photographs of MK Gandhi from sources around the world. After Jhaveri’s death, Peter Rühe turned the extensive photo collection of over 9,000 prints into a photo-archive of the highest standard through scientific cataloguing and computerisation. Kanu Gandhi lived with MK Gandhi for the last 12 years of his life and was the only person Gandhi gave permission to photograph him, but with three conditions; that the freedom movement would not fund it, that he was not to use flash and that Gandhi would not pose for him. This collection is therefore a precious and intimate view of the more private side of Gandhi’s life. The book has a strong visual narrative and allows us a rare and privileged view of Gandhi through a variety of camera lenses from the witty and ardent press, the sensitive and intelligent agency to the ingenuous eye of a great nephew.

In one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) effected tremendous political change and wielded enormous influence. His teachings on non-violence elevated him in the eyes of many to the status of a saint. Among those profoundly influenced by his philosophy of peaceful resistance was Martin Luther King Jr, who adopted Gandhi’s methods in his own struggle for civil rights. In Peter Rühe’s book, Gandhi’s life is told by means of an extraordinary collection of nearly 300 photographs, many never seen before. These pictures document Gandhi’s early life in India, his law studies in London, his work in South Africa, and his return to lead the struggle for Indian independence, which won him the title of ‘father of the nation’. We can see the sweep of world politics and the struggles of the poor in the life of one man whose impact on the world is matched by few in the history of mankind. As Albert Einstein said: ‘Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.’