The way we were

A look at some of the first photographs ever of Indian ‘views’.

What did the Golden Temple or the Qutub Minar look like a hundred and fifty years ago? Find out at ‘100 Vintage Views of India’, an exhibition of mid-19th and early 20th century photographs at Tasveer, the gallery dedicated to the promotion of photography as an art. It’s a travelling show which will go up next at the Tasveer galleries in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

These are photographs captured by Englishmen and women who were passing through the country, amateurs and semi-professionals in the main who were experimenting with the then, nascent technology. These are important, not just as historical documentation but also as a testimony to the early adoption of photography by non-professionals in India, before the rise of the commercial studios.

The show has been put together by Abhishek Poddar, director of Tasveer, and sourced from Bernard Shapero, a London-based dealer of antiquarian books, photographs and maps.

The photographs, most of which are albumen prints, are on sale, with prices starting at Rs 22,500 and going up to Rs 3 to 4 lakh. Which is still affordable, given the high prices of contemporary art in recent times. “This show hopes to offer a taste of the breadth and depth of the subject to collectors,” says Poddar.

100 Vintage Views of India
When: Till August 28, 2010
Where: Tasveer, Sua House,
26/1, Kasturba Cross Road, Bangalore (080-2212 8358)