photography

View of Government House, Calcutta

This view looks north-west from the Ochterlony Monument across the maidan towards the Government House and building along the Esplanade row. The image also captures other important buildings partly visible in the background, such as the General Post Office, the Writers’ Building, and St. John’s Church. In the 1760s, the establishing years of the East… Read more »

View of the Maidan, Calcutta

This picture shows the north side of the vast open space, known as the Maidan, in the centre of Calcutta, bordered by Chowringhee Road. The Maidan is surrounded by the city’s main public buildings, such as the Government House, on the far left behind the Ochterlony Monument, now called the Shahid Minar. Open spaces were… Read more »

Dancing Girl, Western India

This is a portrait of an unidentified dancer from Western India.  The dancer is photographed seated against a very peculiar wallpaper. She holds a hand-held fan in one hand and a small bowl in the other. She is dressed in a very simplistic style with a zari bordered sari and wears minimum jewellery. This photograph… Read more »

Dancer and Musicians, Bombay

This is a photograph of an unidentified nautch party in Bombay. It was taken by a French photographer Eugene Auguste Taurines who was active in Bombay from the mid-1880s to around 1901 and ran a studio in the city.  Starting around the Mughal era, entourages of dancing girls performed for rulers and chieftains, not only… Read more »

Mumbai Unfiltered

Discover the city of Mumbai from these unique and unexpected perspectives brought to you by 20 Instagram handles. From window art to the fishermen’s lives, these photographers will make you appreciate this bustling city in a whole new way.

Visiting Lala Deen Dayal’s India

In the mid-1870s, an Indian engineer emerged as an unlikely documentarian of both the British Raj and princely India. The story of Lala Deen Dayal is tied to the fortunes of Hyderabad and its flamboyant sixth Nizam

Say Cheese, Your Majesty

It was love at first click for India’s royalty and the 19th century’s most exciting new art form: photography