The Coming of Photography in India

Christopher Pinney’s The Coming of Photography in India discusses the potential and the consequence of photography in the Indian context. Within months of Daguerre’s 1839 announcement, photography was introduced in India. The 1850s saw the establishment of photographic societies in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras (now, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai). Pinney poses questions about the benefit or detriment of photography in India.

Pinney presents a bold analysis which will reward anyone with an interest in India, photography, or the history of the book. Accompanied by beautiful images – a large number of which are previously unpublished – this volume presents a sophisticated account of the ‘disturbance’ which photography has brought to all of our lives.

– Front jacket flap

Christopher Pinney, recipient of the Padma Shri, anthropologist, and art historian, was born in Sri Lanka. He is Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture at University College London. South Asian visual culture, particularly that of India, is his area of research and study. A visiting Crowe Professor of Art History at Northwestern University and Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture at University College London, Pinney has conducted ethnographic and archival research projects in India since 1982. A revision of the Panizzi Lectures that were given in 2006, at the British Library, Pinny also makes use of the Alkazi Collection of Photography, Delhi, London, and New York, as well as other archives and collections.

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