Embellished reality of Indian Painted Photographs

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada presents ‘Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs’ that date from the 1860s, to the 2000s. Indian visual form in the modern period has often combined past & present techniques in novel hybrid varieties.

These painted photographs exemplify this phenomenon by blending established painting styles and the new photography technology. This show features works from the museum's collection acquired in the last decade.

Made to commemorate, convey status, and mark rites of passage, Indian painted photographs offer a unique insight into a certain class of the society. In India, the practice of applying paint to embellish a photograph, covering the entire print at times, points to a different conception of the photograph-one, which employs photography to enhance the emotional potential of the image even while attaining the other-worldly goals of painting.

This exhibition brings together 60 works from the ROM's collection that have been acquired in the last decade but never before on display. They date from the 1860s, a few decades after the invention of photography, to the 2000s, well after the introduction of color photography.

An accompanying note elaborates: “Indian painted photographs were made to commemorate, convey status, and mark rites of passage. Most combinations of paint and photography around the world have used colour to enhance the realism of a black and white image. In India, paint also has been applied to embellish a photograph, sometimes covering the entire print. This practice points to a different conception of the photograph-one that uses photography to achieve the other-worldly goals of painting while enhancing the emotional potential of the image.

The Royal Ontario Museum is among the world’s leading museums of natural history, and of world cultures. In combining a universal museum of cultures with that of natural history, the ROM offers an unusual breadth of experience. It’s mission to engage the public in exploration of cultural change and to serve as an advocate for science in the study of nature.

(Information courtesy: The Royal Ontario Museum)