Highlights from 150 years of photography in India are now being showcased in a new exhibition, Illuminating India: Photography 1857–2017, appearing at London’s Science Museum from 4 October to 31 March 2018. The collection brings together images taken by Indian and international photographers between 1857 and 2017, presenting a sweeping portrait of a nation emerging from colonialism into 21st century independence.

Highlights of the collection include images of India by such photographic legends as Henri Cartier-Bresson and prolific Raj-era photographer Samuel Bourne, as well as images by early Indian photographers such as Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, whose gelatin prints of Indian high society blurred the lines between portraiture and art photography.

Many images in the exhibition shine a light onto pivotal events in Indian history, including the 1857 Mutiny, known to Indians as the First War of Independence, and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, while contemporary images highlight the complexities of modern India, from Olivia Arthur’s intimate glimpses of Mumbai’s gay scene to ethereal vignettes of Indian life by Vasantha Yogananthan.

Source : https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2017/10/09/indian-photography-london-science-museum/

JOSEPH BINDLOSS

The post 150 years of Indian photography goes on display in London first appeared on Indian Art News.

KOLKATA: Sotheby’s is uncorking Indian contemporary photography at its September auction in New York. The auction is projecting photography as the next big development on the Indian artistic horizon. Each photographic image is estimated in the range of $5,000-15,000.

Among the lots is ‘Fragments of a Wedding Diary’, the 3rd edition of 5, which is a digital image on archival paper. This is a set of 33 framed photographs executed in 2001.

Estimated at $10,000-15,000, the work has been exhibited in museums in Finland and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.

Another piece includes Sunil Gupta’s ‘Homelands’.

The work was showcased in the seminal exhibition, ‘India: Public Places, Private Spaces, Contemporary Photography and Video Art’ in Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey in 2007. It was included in a show in Switzerland in 2007. Gupta’s work at Sotheby’s is estimated to fetch between $5,000-7,000.

Featuring in the selection of photographs is also Vivek Vilasini’s “humorous” work titled ‘Last Supper’. Here, he depicts people in Kathakali outfits seated around a dining table as Christ and his Apostles.

“The choreographed work showcases the beauty and ability of photography as a medium,” said Ms Maithili Parekh, Sotheby’s deputy director. The value of the photograph is between $10,000-15,000.

In the collection is also ‘There Is No Border Here’, a piece photographed by Shilpa Gupta estimated in the range of $6,000-8,000. In step, one finds Tejal Shah’s ‘Encounter(s)’ executed in 2006. Shah’s works have figured in solo exhibits in Mumbai, Berlin and New York. ‘Encounter(s)’ is pegged at an estimate of $6,000-8,000.

“As art prices for paintings and sculptures reach astronomical levels, collectors are turning toward photography which is an affordable and, yet, innovative medium. There are also photographic shows being staged in venues like Newark Museum, New Jersey. Now, Sotheby’s is bringing cutting-edge Indian photography at its Indian art sale in New York,” Ms Parekh said.

The post Sotheby’s to showcase Indian photography at New York sale first appeared on Indian Art News.

First it was Indian paintings and now it is Indian photography and vintage photographs of India that’s making waves in the international art market. Photographs account for as much as seven per cent of art auction sales in 2007, although this category of art is priced at one tenth the price of paintings. During Christie’s recent contemporary Indian art sale, price of works by Indian photographers ranged from Rs Four to Rs 12.7 lakh. Five years ago, a photograph by the famous Indian photo-journalist Raghu that fetched $100 in India, is now being valued at $10,000. Ravi Prasad, CEO and president of Himalaya group of multinationals and wife Trupti Prasad bought a 3.5 ft X 5 ft photograph of a 23-year-old relatively unknown photographer called Shibu Arakkal in Bangalore in 1999. The single edition cost the Prasads Rs 8,500. Today, Arakkal’s limited edition prints are priced Rs 50,000 upwards, not taking into account the smaller size or the single edition, as opposed to multiple editions.Further this year the famous Osian’s Art Fund in India, run by connoisseur Neville Tuli, just acquired 45 original, silver gelatin prints by Henri Cartier- Bresson, which are a collection of photographs of Mahatma Gandhi. Apart from a 17.5 percent custom duty to bring these artworks to India, Osian’s paid British pounds 80,000 (Rs 66 lakhs) which is the highest price paid by a private institution in India for a collection of photographs.Photography developed in Europe around the 1820s. Louis Daguerre, who perfected the daguerreotype in 1839, attracted the attention of investors with the advertised slogan: “(the) daguerreotype is not merely an instrument which serves to draw nature; (it) gives her the power to reproduce herself.” The process reached Calcutta as early as 1840, although the earliest extant daguerreotype plates date between 1842 and 1845. Photography in India is mainly credited with four ages – the 1839-1911 period when only professionals and gifted amateurs could handle the camera, 1911 to 1945, when the scientific developments of the war years made photography more gadget-oriented, and the period 1945 to 1995, when the newly introduced digital cameras changed the concept of photogrraphy.

Nurtured by eminent photographers like Deen Dayal of Hyderabad, Maharaja Ramsingh of Jaipur Indian photographers ensured that the British Era of Indian photography was well documented and photographed. Raghu Rai’s 1984 photographs of Indira Gandhi’s death and funeral stand in a long Indian journalistic tradition, as do Manish Swarup’s 2002 pictures of the effects of sectarian violence in Gujarat.As an indicator of trends closer home, gallery exhibitions of contemporary photography in Mumbai in early 2007 boasted typical prices from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 per 2’ X 3’ print, for limited editions (usually of 10 to 20 prints per image), and sold, perhaps, two to five images in a week long exhibition. In comparision, by mid 2008, the galleries are seeing prices from Rs 10,000 to Rs two lakh each, yet seeing sales of 10 to 20 images over a week.

It is important to know what the buyer must look for in investing in photograph by Indian photographers. As per the curator of New Era Art Gallery in Mumbai: Foremost, of course, is the perceived value of the artist. Even mundane works by a celebrated photographer will command high prices.An undamaged print, in pristine condition, ideally printed on archival quality media, mounted ideally on acid free board.Certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, specifying the edition size and the serial number of your print.

Signed declaration by the artist of holding the copyright of the image and rights of exhibition and sale.Copies of any required model, release property or release for images containing a recognisable model.

Maharaja Features

The post Click and tell! first appeared on Indian Art News.

The humble camera is now the artist’s brush in India. Once dismissed as a mundane device to freeze dull official frames like weddings, births, gatherings and graduation ceremonies, the camera is now seen as an alternative genre of collector’s art.
Photographers say the genre is booming because of its affordability and easy availability. A good photograph can be replicated into several editions, whereas a painting has one original edition and limited reprints, which rarely fetch buyers.
‘People in India are now more aware of photography as an art form because internationally the medium has gained wide acceptance. The awareness is trickling down to our country.
‘As a result, photographers, who have taken it up as a vocation here, are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. There is an assured return at the end of the day,’ said photographer Ajay Rajgharia, the promoter of Wonderwall.co.in, the country’s first website dedicated to fine art photography.
He is known for his series of ‘Blue Photographs’, street life and reality portraits of old doorjambs, doorknockers and arty walls in abandoned homes and shrines in towns across India.
According to Rajgharia, paintings have reached their peak. ‘How many more paintings can people buy?’
In contrast, photography as a genre is still young with a lineage of just 150 years. Lensmen can work on a diverse body of subjects, giving viewers and buyers a gamut of choices, Rajgharia told IANS. He is curating a show with big names for Gallery Prakrit in Chennai.
Photographs are priced at 1/10th the price of paintings. A rough estimate puts the lowest limit at Rs.10,000 and the upper cap at Rs.200,000. The price range, says Rajgharia, generates a lot of interest prompting galleries to promote new photographers.
The capital on an average sees at least 50 shows a year, with an equal number in metros like Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, besides international exhibitions.
According to Shalini Gupta of Tasveer, which hosts several shows round the year, the prices of photographs go down with every subsequent edition and reprint. But strangely, buyers snap up replicated prints.
Classical art photographer Aniruddha Mukherjee feels that photography as an art stands out because it captures ‘time and space’ and yet transcends both at the same time through abstract touches, play of light and intelligent studies in colour.
‘There are very interesting things happening in photography in India. A group of photographers (Atul Bhalla for instance) are adding experimental layers to their photographs to make it more attractive to buyers as collectors’ items. They are going beyond conventional photography,’ Mukherjee said.
He will be showing his black and white photographs of life in Indian temple towns and their culture in a show titled ‘Faces in the Ground Cloud’ at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi June 25-29.
Mukherjee, a Delhi School of Art graduate and two-time national awards winner, is a portrait artist by training. ‘The difference between a painter drawing portraits and a photographer capturing faces on his lens is that a painting takes more time and effort. A painter has to carry his kit – canvas, colours and brush, get the right light, right expression and either coax his subjects to sit through the session or copy the face from a photograph.
‘And at the end of it, the price of all the hard labour becomes a bit too steep for an average buyer. In contrast, a good photographer can click a classical portrait faster and at an affordable price,’ Mukherjee said.
Delhi-based photographer Tarun Das, who is known for his street life images, feels that photographs as works of art are easy to understand unlike contemporary and modern paintings, which are open to interpretations.
‘Photographs is reality art which has depth and clarity. When you look at a photograph as a layman, it tells you everything. It is candid,’ Das said.
‘And yet one can innovate and change the meaning of a subject with artistic abstractions, especially in black and white frames which have an element of mystery.’ He too will exhibit his works at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi this month.
Most Indian photographers, according to the trio, draw their inspiration from the West. ‘Master photographers Henry Cartier Bresson, Ansel Easton Adams and Ralph Gibson have inspired generations of Indian photographers with their evolved frames,’ Aniruddha Mukherjee said.
And nearer home, ace photojournalist Raghu Rai, fashion photographer Prabuddha Das Gupta, biographer Nemai Ghosh, cinematographer Subrata Mitra and master filmmaker Satyjait Ray have set the artistic trend for modern classical photographers.
‘The camera has travelled a long way from where it was even 10 years ago,’ Rajgharia said.

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