Framing history

Celebrated fashion photographer Norman Parkinson’s pictures have never failed to mesmerise art lovers across the globe. The late English photographers’ works on India are being showcased in the city in an exhibition titled Pink is the Navy Blue of India.

“Norman Parkinson’s trip to India was an incredible experience for him. After the austerity of the war and the focus on Europe, Britain was eager to embrace the larger world. Parkinson was part of the wave of photographers and journalists caught up in this spirit of exploration,” says a spokesperson from the gallery exhibiting his works.

In November 1956, when a British magazine published Parkinson’s works on India, the fashion world was stunned by his contemporary and fresh look at India. He had travelled throughout India from the south of Mahabalipuram to Kashmir, and he captured the mood, the ambience and above all the colour.

Parkinson’s innate understanding of India and its diversity set him apart. He was always a risk taker. His most successful photographs are the ones he took outdoors. Parkinson clearly had a great sense of humor — he would place his models in fun yet crazy situations, whether it was showing a woman jumping on the beach in the 1930s, girls standing on the backs of donkeys in Blackpool or a model hanging from a crane in front of the Old Bailey in 1960.