Book Review: Photography in India: A Visual History from the 1850s to the Present by Nathaniel Gaskell & Diva Gujral

Following the invention of photography in Europe in the late 1830s, it took mere months to arrive in India. Since then, the subcontinent has gone on to have a rich, varied and, at times, fraught relationship with the medium. Nathaniel Gaskell and Diva Gujral’s Photography in India: A Visual History from the 1850s to the Present (Prestel) gives a comprehensive journey from photography’s first appearance at the height of the British Empire to the work of contemporary practitioners.

- Maushi Journal

In keeping with the international origins of photography in the Subcontinent, this book looks beyond national boundaries. As the introduction explains: “…in a world pervaded by the forces of globalisation, it is no longer possible to understand the photographic medium through conventional lenses such as nationality and geography.” The result is hugely successful, revealing through magnificent imagery the global connections and counterpoints across the last 180 years.

Each of the ten chapters in Photography in India identifies themes that run roughly concurrent to the history of the country, providing an erudite introduction and a detailed caption for each image.