Re-visioning the Past: Early Photography in Bengal 1875-1915

Author: Malavika Karlekar

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (2005)

Binding: Paperback, 208 pages

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While initial chapters recount well known early Indian photographic history, the next ones comprise an intelligent and thought-provoking analysis of photography in Bengal and the role it played in mediating cultural relations between colonizers and the emerging Bengali middle and upper classes.

There are some exceptional images of Rabindranath Tagore, for example, carefully distilled in what they conveyed about relations between generations, the sexes and cultural attitudes. While the quality of reproduction of many of these CDVs is not ideal, they come from little known collections and provide a wonderful glimpse into aspects of photography often missed by historians. The book benefits from the writers broad grasp of cultural forces in 19th and early 20th century Bengal which she brings to bear on the photographs with real analytic power.

Another fascinating chapter discusses the careers of three early Bengali photographers, their often tense relationships with European technologies and knowledge systems, to which they made important contributions.

From the book description
This book of photographs taken in Bengal during the period 1875 - 1915 aims to introduce a new dimension to the experience of colonialism in Bengal, and reconstructs a history of growing urban Bengali middle-class society.

"This is a rich, well-constructed, interesting study. Apart from its value to South Asia specialists, the book should interest anyone concerned with the representational dimensions of colonial encounters. Indeed, it is a work any educated person could beneficially read and enjoy." - Ian J. Kerr, History: Reviews of New Books