Sir John Morgan writes: Your admirable obituary of Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 5) did not mention his fascination with China. Indeed, his photographs of China in turmoil captured, more than anyone else’s, the atmosphere of the time.
He stayed with me in Peking during the Fifties. He was most solicitous in encouraging my meagre attempts at photography; he took me round the backstreets of Peking and showed me his secrets in capturing a scene where no one realised they were being photographed. He used a Thirties Leica held together with tape. I was rather embarrassed by my more modern Leica M3. He greatly encouraged me by his comments on my photographs of Mongolia, which I had recently visited, and he was envious that he never had. He urged me to publish them despite his disapproval that they were in colour. I still have his letters, but never took his advice.
One unforgettable act of kindness was that when he heard that I was going to Kashmir he arranged for me to stay on his favourite houseboat. From the moment I arrived I was treated like the Maharajah. “Mr Henry” was an adored legend among the Kashmirs and my link with him put me in a very special category.
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Mr Andrew Gibbon-Williams writes: While showing me his exquisite recent drawings after dinner some years ago, M Henri Cartier-Bresson suddenly pronounced: “La photographie, ce n’est pas un art”. Debate over as far as I am concerned.
Sir Nicholas Barrington writes: It is difficult to exaggerate the good influence that the wise, liberal, gentle Professor John Northam (obituary, August 4) had on a generation of students at Clare College, Cambridge, including myself. He treated us like adults, and encouraged us to broaden our interests to include all aspects of literature and the arts. He was appointed senior tutor of the college in 1957 at the exceptionally young age of 35, and it was from this position that for the next ten years he was able to have such influence over changes that made Clare one of the most progressive colleges in Cambridge: admitting women (one of the first three men’s colleges to do so); widening the social field for admissions; and donating a large portion of college resources to found a new graduate college, Clare Hall, now thriving. Northam left for Bristol University because there was no post of Professor of Drama at Cambridge. When he retired, he returned to Cambridge and resumed his fellowship of Clare, becoming one of the elder statesmen of the college, to which he remained devoted.
As a distinguished Ibsen scholar, he made a significant contribution to British-Norwegian relations, recognised by the award of St Olave’s medallion by the Norwegian Government.
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Roy Dean writes: The obituary of David Raksin (August 17) emphasises the importance of the haunting theme tune that the composer wrote at short notice for the film Laura. There was an unusual twist in that his publishers Robbins Music Corporation thought his melody so complex that it would not be practical to publish it. But when they heard Johnny Mercer’s splendid lyric, written after the film was released, they realised that they were on a winner and the resulting song became a classic.
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