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The first major exhibition in London
of early photographs of India
11 October to 15 December 2001
Presented by Asia House in association with
The British Library and SOAS
Sponsored by Royal and Sun Alliance
In the 19th century, India was at the forefront of photographic
development,
and this exhibition includes a wide range of arresting images many of
which
have never been seen in public before. The photographs are drawn from
two of
the most important collections of Indian photography: the British Library
and the Howard and Jane Ricketts Collection.
The exhibition reflects the major preoccupations and
achievements of
19th-century Indian photography: the early amateurs who first introduced
the medium; the documentation of India's architectural and ethnic diversity;
the achievements of commercial photographers such as Samuel Bourne; and
Princely India. Other themes include natural history, panoramas, trade
and
the industrialisation of India, and the Durbars.
Since the 18th century people, events and landscapes
in India had been
keenly observed and documented by both Indian and European artists in
paintings, drawings, aquatints and lithographs. Within a few years of
its
introduction in Europe in 1839, however, photography had become the new
recording medium.
Menu pictures:
Sir Madan Singh, Maharajah of Kishangarh, ca. 1911
The Delhi Durbar, 7 January
1903
Chhatri
at Rajgarh, Rajasthan, ca. 1862
The locomotive 'Akbar' being ferried across the Jumna, 14 January 1887