There couldn’t have been a more appealing way to present the charm of19th century India to today’s urbane society than through showcasing a collection of rare photographs of the bygone era.
Titled One Hundred Vintage Views of India, the exhibition is the brainchild of art curator Abhishek Poddar, and presents works of several photographers including ones even anonymous. These pictures capture the essence and beauty of the period across various cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, among others, highlighting the refined architecture of the Mughal as well as the Hindu eras.
Some of the innumerable archaeological sites being put to display in the exhibition include The Qutub Minar (Delhi), Caves of Elephanta (Mumbai), Latticed Screens, Taj Mahal (Agra), Marble Mausoleum (Agra) and the Burning Ghat (Varanasi).
“This exhibition highlights a select number of prints from the archives of dealers and photography collectors around the world,” explains Poddar, adding, “We hope that the photographs included in this exhibition help introduce the novice to this field and, at the same time, provide the seasoned collector with some new and interesting names they might not have come across.”
The show will open this Saturday and will be on for almost two weeks (till March 12). The show is a result of almost a year of hard work. “It took us quite some time for putting up this collection because the pictures are old and not easily available. Also, we were looking at a cross section of images of ancient monuments keeping in mind the quality and condition of the pictures at the same time.
“The pictures have been sourced mainly from India and UK. While most of them have been clicked by eminent photographers, we were unable to trace some of the photographers,” states Poddar.
b_shreya@dnaindia.net
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