“Art is the suitcase of history, carrying the essentials”-Yann MartelThe statement stands true if one is to look at the lithographs produced by the 18th and 19th century artists keeping India as the focus of their subject. When the British officially began to rule India in 1757, there were no cameras. In the early 19th century, when the camera was invented, it wasn’t popular so the British took to traditional methods of showing to the world what the to-be-colonized country looked like. It was at this time when the British commissioned artists from around the world to produce a visual presentation of the country through their paintings and engravings.Recently, the Pran Sabharwal Foundation showcased lithographs titled “An Indian Kaleidoscope” from 18th and 19th century at 1AQ gallery in Delhi, depicting India that existed under the British Raj; the caste-divide which continues to exist, the monuments that stand testimony to history and most-importantly, what the British perceived of Indians.“The motive is to show lithography and print-making from 200 years ago and secondly to put forth a direct connection between art and history; an interpretation of history through art. It’s a vivid portrayal of society back then and how it was perceived by the outsiders,” says Anubhav Nath, Curatorial Director, 1AQ.More than artists, they were documenters, Nath believes. The lithographs by Balthazar Solyvyns produced in late 18th and early 19th centuries show a sharp discrimination between the “upper and lower castes” in India. The so-called ‘Shudras’ are shown dark skinned while the Brahmins are comparatively fair; the ‘Baniya’ woman dons jewellery while the ‘Shudra’ woman is shown pale and thin. Solyvyn, a Flemish painter, was among the first who was commissioned by the British to depict Indian society; he stayed in Kolkata in 1790s. His British contemporaries Thomas Danielle and his nephew William Danielle took trips across India and produced a series of landscapes; temples at Madurai, Mamallapuram and Rameswaram, cave temples in Mumbai, picturesque view of northern India from Agra, Bhagalpur to Srinagar, Uttarakhand and Garhwal in the Himalayas. The Daniells’ work on India titled “Oriental Scenery” was published in six parts over the period 1795–1808. Thirty sets were sold to the East India Company.Not just the government but private publishers saw an opportunity to mint money out of this output. “The publishers in the United Kingdom realized that it’s a good money making business of putting out books with sceneries of India so a lot of them commissioned people on their own,” says Nath.The perception of Indians by the British is rightly described in the lithographs created by Lloyd in his series titled “Lloyd’s Sketches of Indian Life”. Seemingly condescending, lithographs titled “Matrimonial Bliss” wherein a dark man and a dark woman wearing torn clothes walk while two naked children running behind them; a brown Indian man serves a white lady in his creation and the work is titled “The Colonel’s Post Orderly, Native Infantry”. Other creations, typical of “White man’s burden” are titled “Our Bedroom”, “Our Colonel”, “Our Station” etc.While discussing how explicitly the “colonization” of India is depicted in these lithographs, Nath says, “This kind of colonialism is a part of our history and we can’t deny it”.Works of many other artists depict an India of 18th-19th centuries, undivided and under British Raj back then. Thomas Jeffery’s huge-sized maps from 1768, Professor Strallin’s series of wildlife in India, a fine and detailed view of oriental sports played during the times, created by EAS Douglas and A Ackerman from 1819. Other artists’ whose work was on display were Dottor Ferraric (1824), Elliot RN Robt Wallis (1872), Sam Hewitt and Captain Williamson (1819) among a few more. These works, which were mainly done by British artists, represent India from a colonial point of view. The work of the common people, or a day-to-day setting depicted the colony that India was all those years ago and it helps in understanding the traditions colonialism has given birth to and how they’ve been carried forward.Follow @ARTINFOIndia
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