Behind a gossamer curtain of cloud, the ‘Toy Train’ navigates a loop past the tea-bush lined slopes of Darjeeling. The black-and-white photograph, part of Tasveer’s travelling exhibition, turns the spotlight away from the crowded pavements, new-age high rises and restless populace of our times to linger on the symbols that once conveyed a glorious and languid pace of life.
Showcased as part of the Bengaluru-based Tasveer gallery’s 10th anniversary, the 19th Century vintage photographs have been sourced from the holdings of MAP (Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru). They highlight the works of colonial photographers Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd, who made their way across a variegated country, capturing its spirit through a range of architectural views, landscapes and portraits.
The journey of Bourne & Shepherd, the photographic studio established in 1863 and among the oldest in the world till it closed down in Kolkata last year, goes beyond brand and legacy to provide a visual record of India during the Raj. Before Samuel Bourne became the most prolific photographer of the jewel in the British crown, he was a clerk in a Nottingham bank. Both commercial enterprise and the promise of adventure beckoned him to the sub-continent, and Bourne roamed Imperial India photographing everything — fierce Afridi Pathans in the North-West, the curved arches of Central India, the crowded ghats of Calcutta and the palm-fringed shores of Ceylon. Along with Charles Shepherd, he established a studio in Simla and later in Calcutta, which were patronised by the British as well as Indian nobility.
Digitally enhanced
At the exhibition, 41 framed pictures symbolise India’s march across time. “Part of the idea behind the exhibition was to introduce Bourne & Shepherd as the pioneers of the photographic medium to a contemporary audience,” says Anishaa Taraporvala, a representative of Tasveer. “Tasveer has digitally enhanced some of the images, so the audience is actually seeing select works in a way they’ve never really been seen before.”
The photographs transport us to the glory years of the Empire — the Delhi durbars with caparisoned elephants and camel drawn carriages — and the price it paid — the soot-blackened walls of the Lucknow Residency and the Well where Britishers were massacred during the Revolt of 1857. They lead us through the pearly-white walls of Moti Masjid and the sandstone splendour of Fatehpur Sikri to the pillared verandahs of Calcutta’s Great Eastern Hotel and the broad streets of Bombay’s Esplanade. They travel through the quiet Paigah tombs and the green dales of Ooty. They capture the soul of Indian royalty — the Maharajas of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur stare back at the camera, harpooning the spectator with their defiant eyes.
The exhibition, which has been on view in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Jodhpur, also features a catalogue that has an essay by Hugh Ashley Rayner, British scholar of early Indian photography, on the life and works of Samuel Bourne.
'Figures in Time' should be seen not only because each picture is a wistful suggestion of a life long past, but also because it is an affectionate tribute to India’s place in the cultural world.
A limited edition collector’s portfolio as well as individual archival pigment prints are available for sale. The exhibition is open from 11 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. till July 14 at The Folly, Amethyst, Royapettah. For details, 45991630.
