Latest news with #DelhiArtGallery
Hindustan Times
29-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
No headway in case against journo Rana Ayyub in absence of X's response: Police
The Delhi Police have told a local court that it was yet to hear from social media company X about the details of journalist Rana Ayyub's account as part of its probe into a case of alleged insult to Hindu deities. In a report, the cyber police station (South Delhi) informed chief judicial magistrate Himanshu Raman Singh on Wednesday that the investigation will be finalised after X responds. It added that at least four notices were sent to X for the details. '...the alleged [insulting] tweets [of Ayyub] are not available on the platform [X],' the report said. On January 25, the Saket court directed the Delhi Police to book Ayyub under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious beliefs by insulting religion), and 505 (statements that could incite public mischief) for allegedly using offensive and derogatory comments against Hindu deities. The sections provide for up to three years in prison. The court had asked the police to file an action taken report on the investigation. Advocate Amita Sachdeva, the complainant in the case, said Ayyub's posts caused her distress and prompted her to file a complaint. She is also a complainant in the case against the Delhi Art Gallery for allegedly displaying obscene paintings of the late artist MF Hussain. The case is pending in Delhi's Patiala House court.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
India's colonial past revealed through 200 masterful paintings
Founded in 1600 as a trading enterprise, the English East India company gradually transformed into a colonial power. By the late 18th Century, as it tightened its grip on India, company officials began commissioning Indian artists - many formerly employed by the Mughals - to create striking visual records of the land they were now ruling. A Treasury of Life: Indian Company Paintings, c. 1790 to 1835, an ongoing show in the Indian capital put together by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), features over 200 works that once lay on the margins of mainstream art history. It is India's largest exhibition of company paintings, highlighting their rich diversity and the skill of Indian artists. Painted by largely unnamed artists, these paintings covered a wide range of subjects, but mainly fall into three categories: natural history, like botanical studies; architecture, including monuments and scenic views of towns and landscapes; and Indian manners and customs. "The focus on these three subject areas reflects European engagements with their Indian environment in an attempt to come to terms with all that was unfamiliar to Western eyes," says Giles Tillotson of DAG, who curated the show. "Europeans living in India were delighted to encounter flora and fauna that were new to them, and ancient buildings in exotic styles. They met – or at least observed – multitudes of people whose dress and habits were strange but – as they began to discern – were linked to stream of religious belief and social practice." Beyond natural history, India's architectural heritage captivated European visitors. Before photography, paintings were the best way to document travels, and iconic Mughal monuments became prime subjects. Patrons soon turned to skilled local artists. Beyond the Taj Mahal, popular subjects included Agra Fort, Jama Masjid, Buland Darwaza, Sheikh Salim Chishti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri (above), and Delhi's Qutub Minar and Humayun's Tomb. The once-obscure and long-anonymous Indian artist Sita Ram, who painted the tomb, was one of them. From June 1814 to early October 1815, Sita Ram travelled extensively with Francis Rawdon, also known as the Marquess of Hastings, who had been appointed as the governor general in India in 1813 and held the position for a decade. (He is not to be confused with Warren Hastings, who served as India's first governor general much earlier.) The largest group in this collection is a set of botanical watercolours, likely from Murshidabad or Maidapur (in present-day West Bengal). While Murshidabad was the Nawab of Bengal's capital, the East India Company operated there. In the late 18th century, nearby Maidapur briefly served as a British base before Calcutta's (now Kolkata) rise eclipsed it. Originally part of the Louisa Parlby Album - named after the British woman who compiled it while her husband, Colonel James Parlby, served in Bengal - the works likely date to the late 18th Century, before Louisa's return to Britain in 1801. "The plants represented in the paintings are likely quite illustrative of what could be found growing in both the well-appointed gardens as well as the more marginal spaces of common greens, waysides and fields in the Murshidabad area during the late eighteenth century," writes Nicolas Roth of Harvard University. "These are familiar plants, domestic and domesticated, which helped constitute local life worlds and systems of meaning, even as European patrons may have seen them mainly as exotica to be collected." Another painting from the collection is of a temple procession showing a Shiva statue on an ornate platform carried by men, flanked by Brahmins and trumpeters. At the front, dancers with sticks perform under a temporary gateway, while holy water is poured on them from above. Labeled Ouricaty Tirounal, it depicts a ritual from Thirunallar temple in Karaikal in southern India, capturing a rare moment from a 200-year-old tradition. By the late 18th Century, company paintings had become true collaborations between European patrons and Indian artists. Art historian Mildred Archer called them a "fascinating record of Indian social life," blending the fine detail of Mughal miniatures with European realism and perspective. Regional styles added richness - Tanjore artists, for example, depicted people of various castes, shown with tools of their trade. These albums captured a range of professions - nautch girls, judges, sepoys, toddy tappers, and snake charmers. "They catered to British curiosity while satisfying European audience's fascination with the 'exoticism' of Indian life," says Kanupriya Sharma of DAG. Most studies of company painting focus on British patronage, but in south India, the French were commissioning Indian artists as early as 1727. A striking example is a set of 48 paintings from Pondicherry - uniform in size and style - showing the kind of work French collectors sought by 1800. One painting (above) shows 10 men in hats and loincloths rowing through surf. A French caption calls them nageurs (swimmers) and the boat a chilingue. Among the standout images are two vivid scenes by an artist known as B, depicting boatmen navigating the rough Coromandel coast in stitched-plank rowboats. With no safe harbours near Madras or Pondicherry, these skilled oarsmen were vital to European trade, ferrying goods and people through dangerous surf between anchored ships and the shore. Company paintings often featured natural history studies, portraying birds, animals, and plants - especially from private menageries. As seen in the DAG show, these subjects are typically shown life-size against plain white backgrounds, with minimal surroundings - just the occasional patch of grass. The focus remains firmly on the species itself. Ashish Anand, CEO of DAG says the the latest show proposes company paintings as the "starting point of Indian modernism". Anand says this "was the moment when Indian artists who had trained in courtly ateliers first moved outside the court (and the temple) to work for new patrons". "The agendas of those patrons were not tied up with courtly or religious concerns; they were founded on scientific enquiry and observation," he says. "Never mind that the patrons were foreigners. What should strike us now is how Indian artists responded to their demands, creating entirely new templates of Indian art."
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Yahoo
Frozen in time: Rare early images of the Himalayas from Italian pioneer
Vittorio Sella was a pioneering Italian photographer whose work at the turn of the 20th Century shaped both mountain photography and mountaineering history. His rare images of the Himalayas remain some of the most iconic ever captured. A new ongoing show in the Indian capital, Delhi, called Vittorio Sella: Photographer in the Himalaya brings to life the breathtaking grandeur of the Himalayas through his lens. Curated by renowned British explorer and author Hugh Thomson and organised by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), the show is likely one of the largest collection of Sella's Indian views. It features some of the earliest high-altitude photographs of Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, and K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, captured over a century ago. Born in Biella, a town known for its wool trade in northern Italy, Sella (1859–1930) made his first ascents in the nearby Alps. "Throughout his career Sella made use of his skills in engineering and chemistry that the wool mills and his father had taught him," says Thomson. By his twenties, he had mastered complex photographic techniques like the collodion process, enabling him to develop large-format glass plates under harsh conditions. His panoramic images, crafted with technical perfection, earned worldwide acclaim. Sella's Himalayan journey began in 1899 when he joined British explorer Douglas Freshfield on an expedition circumnavigating Kanchenjunga. Any circumnavigation of the mountain also involved an incursion into Nepal, which was also a closed kingdom. While the team's climbing ambitions were thwarted by relentless rain, Sella seized the opportunity to capture pristine snow-dusted peaks. He experimented restlessly with technology, trying out telephoto pictures of Kanchenjunga. His images transported viewers to a world untouched by time. A decade later, Sella reached new heights - both literally and artistically - on a 1909 expedition to K2 with the Duke of the Abruzzi. His photographs of the world's most difficult mountain stand as a testament to his skill and resilience. Carrying a camera system weighing nearly 30kg, Sella crisscrossed treacherous landscapes, creating images that defined mountain photography. Jim Curran, author of K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain, calls Sella "possibly the greatest mountain photographer... his name [is] synonymous with technical perfection and aesthetic refinement". Sella was known for his extraordinary toughness, traversing the Alps at remarkable speed despite carrying heavy photographic gear. His makeshift camera harness and boots - three times heavier than modern ones - are preserved at the Photographic Institute in Biella. His clothing alone weighed over 10kg, while his camera equipment, including a Dallmeyer camera, tripod, and plates, added another 30kg - more than today's airline baggage limits. On the K2 expedition, Sella captured around 250 formal photographs with his Ross & Co camera over four to five months; on Kanchenjunga, about 200, notes Thomson. "By modern digital standards, this number is nothing extraordinary - and even in the last days of analogue film, it would equate to some eight rolls, what a 1970s photographer could have used in a single morning on a single mountain - but when Sella was photographing, this was a considerable number. "This meant enormous care and thought was given to each photograph, both because he had relatively few plates he could shoot." Years later, the famous mountaineer-photographer Ansel Adams would write that the "purity of Sella's interpretations move the spectator to a religious awe". High-altitude photography came with risks - many of Sella's most ambitious shots were ruined when humid conditions caused tissue dividers to stick to the negatives. Yet those that survived reveal a masterful eye, notes Thomson. "Sella was one of the first to recognise how tracks in the snow are as much part of the composition as the mountaineers who made them." Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
BBC News
09-02-2025
- BBC News
In pictures: An Italian photographer's earliest images of the majestic Himalayas
Vittorio Sella was a pioneering Italian photographer whose work at the turn of the 20th Century shaped both mountain photography and mountaineering history. His rare images of the Himalayas remain some of the most iconic ever captured.A new ongoing show in the Indian capital, Delhi, called Vittorio Sella: Photographer in the Himalaya brings to life the breathtaking grandeur of the Himalayas through his by renowned British explorer and author Hugh Thomson and organised by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), the show is likely one of the largest collection of Sella's Indian views. It features some of the earliest high-altitude photographs of Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, and K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, captured over a century ago. Born in Biella, a town known for its wool trade in northern Italy, Sella (1859–1930) made his first ascents in the nearby Alps. "Throughout his career Sella made use of his skills in engineering and chemistry that the wool mills and his father had taught him," says his twenties, he had mastered complex photographic techniques like the collodion process, enabling him to develop large-format glass plates under harsh conditions. His panoramic images, crafted with technical perfection, earned worldwide acclaim. Sella's Himalayan journey began in 1899 when he joined British explorer Douglas Freshfield on an expedition circumnavigating circumnavigation of the mountain also involved an incursion into Nepal, which was also a closed the team's climbing ambitions were thwarted by relentless rain, Sella seized the opportunity to capture pristine snow-dusted peaks. He experimented restlessly with technology, trying out telephoto pictures of Kanchenjunga. His images transported viewers to a world untouched by time. A decade later, Sella reached new heights - both literally and artistically - on a 1909 expedition to K2 with the Duke of the Abruzzi. His photographs of the world's most difficult mountain stand as a testament to his skill and resilience. Carrying a camera system weighing nearly 30kg, Sella crisscrossed treacherous landscapes, creating images that defined mountain Curran, author of K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain, calls Sella "possibly the greatest mountain photographer... his name [is] synonymous with technical perfection and aesthetic refinement". Sella was known for his extraordinary toughness, traversing the Alps at remarkable speed despite carrying heavy photographic gear. His makeshift camera harness and boots - three times heavier than modern ones - are preserved at the Photographic Institute in Biella. His clothing alone weighed over 10kg, while his camera equipment, including a Dallmeyer camera, tripod, and plates, added another 30kg - more than today's airline baggage limits. On the K2 expedition, Sella captured around 250 formal photographs with his Ross & Co camera over four to five months; on Kanchenjunga, about 200, notes Thomson."By modern digital standards, this number is nothing extraordinary - and even in the last days of analogue film, it would equate to some eight rolls, what a 1970s photographer could have used in a single morning on a single mountain - but when Sella was photographing, this was a considerable number. "This meant enormous care and thought was given to each photograph, both because he had relatively few plates he could shoot." Years later, the famous mountaineer-photographer Ansel Adams would write that the "purity of Sella's interpretations move the spectator to a religious awe".High-altitude photography came with risks - many of Sella's most ambitious shots were ruined when humid conditions caused tissue dividers to stick to the negatives. Yet those that survived reveal a masterful eye, notes Thomson. "Sella was one of the first to recognise how tracks in the snow are as much part of the composition as the mountaineers who made them." Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
