A peep into the History of Photography in India
The XIXth century, was an age of several new and significant discoveries among which were photography, cars, airplanes and electricity. Photography was invented during the first three decades of the 19th century as a direct consequence of advances in chemistry and topics (the science of the behaviour of light). The word photography comes from two Greek words that mean “writing with light.”
Photography –Vs. Painting An Art
Photography soon became a popular interest and was perceived as a threat to miniature paintings which enjoyed popular patronage at that time. Photography as such provided a realistic image which was more objective than subjective and its novelty appealed to those who preferred an exact likeness. Its ability to effortlessly render tones, detail, and perspective effectively put an end to the practice of certain forms of painting, such as portrait miniatures.
Protagonists of art suggested that photography be used to preserve paintings etc and not replace them, in the same way as printing and typing/shorthand had helped preserve literature. This was also the time when the Company school of art was beginning to fade and the camera was moving into a position of privilege. Moreover, it is widely believed today that photography created an impetus for painters to forsake straightforward description in favor of more interpretive or abstract styles, such as impressionism, cubism, and abstract expressionism. Photography itself has been defined as an essentially modern art because of its relative newness and its reliance on the machinelike camera.
To demonstrate that imagination, artistic sensitivity, and individual style were possible with the camera, many photographers began to manipulate the photographic process more directly, either through chemical and mechanical means or through stagecraft. As it happened photography did not really replace the traditional art of painting. Instead it went on to flower into the powerful visual communication medium of cinema and television besides resulting in an excellent pictorial record of history. In fact photographs were used by artists as reference and resulted in reducing the number of sittings required by the artist of the subject. Photography has also been widely used as a tool in support of industrial progress, colonialism, government propaganda, social reform, and various disciplines in the social sciences, especially ethnology (the study of human cultures) and criminology (the study of criminal behavior).
Photography comes to the Indian subcontinent
Photography arrived in India earlier than in other parts of the world mainly due to the enthusiasm of the Colonial Powers. Despite lack of speedy transport and communications, equipment for Photography was available in India as early as 1850s. The Bombay Photographic Society was formed in 1854 with 200 members. Similar bodies were formed in Madras and Calcutta in 1856. Hardly any daguerreotypes of this period have survived but paper negatives and calotypes, albumen prints of excellent quality are in possession of museums and individuals. The East India Company declared Photography to be the most accurate and economical means of recording the architectural and archeological monuments for official records, travelers etc.
Among the British army staff assigned to document were Linnaeus Tripe, an experienced calotypist who recorded large salt prints of temples in South India, Robert Gill of the Madras regiment who documented the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, Dr. W. H Pigou, who made an extensive coverage of monuments in Ahmedabad, Bijapur, Mysore and Dharwar, Dr. Murray of Medical School Agra, and Capt.T Biggs of the Bombay Army. At this time the Mutiny of 1857 engaged the attention of the British armed forces resulting in a setback to the photographers. The only record of the Mutiny was by Felix Beato, who came from Crimea with the British and recorded some vivid war scenes in Lucknow. Samuel Bourne was another outstanding photographer who covered northern India extensively and had studios in Bombay and Calcutta. His partner David Shepherd joined him and the firm was known as Bourne and Shepherd. Another early well known studio was Herzog & Higgins in Mhow.
Besides all these foreigners were a host of Indian photographers who distinguished themselves and opened flourishing studios throughout India. Surprising as it may seem, between 1840, to 1900 there were more than 70 studios in Bombay and about 40 in Calcutta, as well as many located in other cities like Delhi, Hyderabad and Agra. In fact Lala Raja Deen Dayal had at one time simultaneously studios in Indore, Hyderabad and Bombay. These studios proved to be so highly competitive that there was not only a flight of custom into his studios but defection of personnel from Bourne and Shepherd and Johnston & Hoffman. In fact, The Bombay studio of Dayal was manned by European operators with names like Wartenburg and Schultz.
Some of the early names in the field of Indian photography were Dr. N. Dajee, Nasserwanjee, Ahmed Ali Khan of Lucknow, Raja Ishwar Chandra Singh, Shivashankar Narayan, Rajendra Lal Mitra, Prodyot Kumar Tagore, Ganpatrao S. Kale, S.H. Dagg, C. Iyahsawmy, and above all, the most well known - Raja Deen Dayal.
Some of the early names in the field of Indian photography were Dr. N. Dajee, Nasserwanjee, Ahmed Ali Khan of Lucknow, Raja Ishwar Chandra Singh, Shivashankar Narayan, Rajendra Lal Mitra, Prodyot Kumar Tagore, Ganpatrao S. Kale, S.H. Dagg, C. Iyahsawmy, and above all, the most well known - Raja Deen Dayal.
In 1893 Dayal’s display of views of India received a special award at the World Colombian Exposition in Chicago. This was followed by several awards at photographic exhibitions held in Jeypore, Indore, Delhi. Testimonials, appointments and letters of appreciation flowed profusely. In 1897 Queen Victoria granted the firm a Royal Warrant. Another distinguished photographer, Shahpurjee N. Bhedwar of Bombay, received a gold medal and the world challenge cup for his picture “Day Dream.” In 1891, at a world photographic contest held in England, where 3,300 pictures were submitted. The same year he sold eight of his prints for a sum of 28,000 rupees (or about $1,500 in today’s figures). Later Queen Victoria appointed him as one of her Royal Photographers.
Photographs as Mirror of the British Raj
The Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 attracted photographers like Dr. John Murray, Felix Beato and the husband-wife team of the Tytlers. The resulting iconography was a photographic record of history which up to then had consisted of only text and sketches/paintings of war scenes. This was followed by the European photographers exploring the bewildering variety of peoples, culture and monuments of the Indian sub continent in albums for commercial sale and presentation back home.
Development of Photography in the mid XIXth century provided an exciting new medium for the colonial powers to catalogue their territorial acquisitions and possessions. Many fine photographers recorded the changing era, documenting the highly complex people and cultures of the oldest civilizations of the Orient that had endured over centuries. After the Mutiny of 1857, the British over threw the Mughal emperor and strengthened their hold over Indian states. With the British came the art and equipment for Photography, resulting in a frenzy of activity to record the military campaigns, native peoples, monuments, and momentous events of the era.
During the British Raj the main role of artisans and photographers in India was to create images of the east which could be taken back home to Britain and presented as an exotic colony that they had conquered. This led to a glorified romantic representation of India. Apart from this they also played a role in defining and establishing the power of the British Raj in India. Most British artists viewed Indians as “natives”. This led to a bias in their portrayal of India and its people.
The man behind the camera became the interpreter of the scene. However as photography developed and the differences in composition and perception began to be visible it became evident that a photographer could create a work of art.
After the Mutiny and the problems faced by the British troops in quelching the same, the British Government turned to the important issues of proper organization for governance of India; through administrative reforms, development programmes, communications and transport that would facilitate a firm control of the territory and project complete authority..
Alongside, the need to establish relations/alliances with the Rulers of Native states. The holding of the Delhi Durbars in 1877, 1903 and 1911 proclaimed the British monarchs as Rulers in place of Mughals and all the Native Rulers were expected to join the Assemblage to pay obeisance at these grand gatherings. Some of the long shots of Delhi Durbar by Samuel Bourne and Dayal, reveal the grandeur of this event.
In three metros like Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, the camera publicized the Imperial vision in the architecture of the official buildings in downtown areas which were constructed in the typical Victorian Gothic, Neo-classical, and Palladian styles of Western Architecture.
Dayal alone recorded almost 6000 images documenting the geography, the architecture, the ruins, the people of his beloved India. Invariably he prepared albums, then and now, the most sought after because they contained the perfect balance between the exotic and the romantic, the beautiful and the bizarre that makes India gorgeously Indian.
Today, people view photography as a method of expressing emotion or ones vision. Great value is given to the aesthetic and visual appeal of the photographs rather than just the content. Like in a painting or any other art form, nowadays the technique such as line, space, color and composition play equal importance as the subject in a photograph.
This is what helps distinguish a photograph from just being a method of capturing a moment to being a piece of artwork, a reflection of the subject’s mood, clothing, character and image. The thought, skill and effort put into taking the photograph also count towards it being an artistic image as compared to an instantaneous shot of a situation. The presence of subjectivity and viewer interest helps in making a the photograph more meaningful than just a record as it takes the viewer beyond just what is seen and gives it a deeper meaning. The historical 19th century pictures by European photographers presented a vision of India which matched the perception of the British as an exotic pageant of the East – ancient monuments, tribal natives, rich Princely rulers and strange traditions.
Somewhat different was the focus of Indian lensmen. The portraits of British settlers and their families provide a rich legacy of the Victorian era costumes, styles, coiffures, uniforms, culture and way of life. Their lavish lifestyle with Natives in attendance was a different experience in a strange environment. The photographs tell us as much about the man behind the camera as the subject and situation. Events like weddings, parties, hunting expeditions, were all captured beautifully by eminent Indian photographer Lala Deen Dayal. The portrait photographs of the Native Chiefs in all their rich, visual splendor adds to the premise why India was the most coveted jewel in the Crown.
Special features of antique image
The images displayed here are unique memoirs of a bygone era; original photographs, printed laboriously through special processes on a variety of substrate paper or glass and later film.
There are four stages in identifying photographs. A general inspection by reflected light reveals the support materials, image colour, and signs of damage or deterioration. In silver prints, the latter includes yellowing and fading, usually termed ‘sulphiding’, and the presence of a silver sheen on the shadow areas, often called ‘mirroring’. A raking light will highlight surface finish, and can reveal a relief image. A magnifying glass of between 4× and 10× will establish whether there is a grain structure to the image, and 30× will show the image structure of continuous-tone photographs. Finally, the subject matter and date of production will suggest certain processes, which were used for specific applications and within a particular time-frame.
Types of Prints
While there existed a large variety of prints like Carbon, Calotype, Palladium, etc. only a few of the most prevalent are described here. The earliest direct photographic print process was salted paper. Salt prints are matt, being embedded in the fibers of the paper. They show the warm brown colour of a printed-out silver chloride image. They could be gold toned for a colder, chocolate -brown hue and improved stability: untoned prints may be yellowed and faded.
Cyanotype used iron salts for a blue image on plain paper. Cyanotypes have a matt finish and do not show sulphiding and mirroring, distinguishing them from blue-toned silver bromide prints. The image is created by the action of “printing out” on light sensitive paper.
Albumen paper carries the silver sensitizer in a coating of egg white, which gives the print surface a satiny shine. Untoned albumen prints have a warm brown colour, but were often gold toned, producing a more stable image whose hue extended from cold brown to purple black. Albumen prints reflect paper with a smooth surface that gives rich photographic detail. This process involved printed out paper and was most common in the last decade of the 19th century.
Gelatin silver papers comprise developed-out silver chloride; the image is suspended on the paper’s surface and becomes visible when developed. , Like printing-out collodion papers, they show a range of image colours from warm brown to purple or grey-black, and a variety of surface finishes from high gloss to dull matt. Most show a pigmented gelatin ‘baryta’ substrate layer between the paper base and photosensitive coating, which gives bright, opaque highlights and a uniformly smooth finish visible under magnification. Deterioration can produce sulphiding and mirroring.
The platinum process used iron and platinum salts to give fine, low-contrast matt prints in grey-black or cold brown on plain paper.
It is not easy for a layman to identify the nature of a print or establish its value. However there is no doubt that the value of Photographs, both antique and modern has risen in tandem with the steep increase in the value of paintings. Collectors are now looking at Photography as a collectible Art and not a handmaid to Art. Exhibitions of Photographs are more visible in Art Galleries. While modern photos are reproduced on archival paper with high quality digital printing to last over 100 years, the originals displayed here have by virtue of their process lasted over 100 years in pristine tonal values. Value of antique photos also depends on the reputation of the photographer, his portfolio, period he operated, and the authenticity and condition of the photograph.
Hemlata Jain
