India Through the Lens: Photography, 1840-1911

Washington D.C., Ahmedabad, and San Rafael, CA: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in association with Mapin Publishing and Mandala Publishing, 2000. 315 pages, illustrations (some colour), map; 24 x 28 cm. Reprint 2006. Near fine. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Light shelfwear. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by arrangement. Profusely illustrated. "At the turn of the millennium, photography is ubiquitous and unquestioned. A century and a half ago however, notes curator and scholar Vidya Dehejia, "the simple ability to produce a photograph was in itself a marvel . . . The early decades of the nineteenth century witnessed the pursuit of a dream, an obsession with cajoling nature into a miraculous reflection upon a surface where it could be captured and retained for all time." India was at the vanguard of the explosion of photography; both Indian and foreigner (mainly British) strove to document and reveal the Indian landscape, people, and architecture. The essays in this book reveal the history and importance of photography in India, from the appeal of the panorama to the documentation of people, places, and princes - and to the outstanding Indian photographer, Lala Deen Dayal, who was unique in being esteemed by both the world of the British and the world of princely India. This book appeals to specialists and nonspecialists alike - all those who love early photography or British India are bound to enjoy India through the Lens." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Fixing a shadow, by Vidya Dehejia; The appeal of the panorama, by John Falconer; A passion for documentation: architecture and ethnography, by John Falconer; Topography and memory: Felice Beato's photographs of India, 1858-1859, by David Harris; Undiscovered amateur: Macfarlane and the picturesque, by Jane Ricketts; Photographer of the picturesque: Samuel Bourne, by Gary D. Sampson; India of the princes and maharajas, by Charles Allen; Maharajas as photographers, by Vidya Dehejia; Imperial image: the grand durbars of 1903 and 1911, by Charles Allen; Lala Deen Dayal: between two worlds, by Gary D. Sampson; Shades of sepia: photographic processes, by Michael Gray.. Paperback. Very Good. Oblong.