Indian Architecture In Postcards

Focusing on a private collection of 60 postcards of modern architecture in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Agra, the contributors to this volume explore the many dimensions of modern architecture in India from the 1890s to the 1970s and share their own perspective on these objects. Experts on architectural history and visual studies, as well as postcard collectors provide new insights into a territory and its architectural heritage which is still largely unknown in Europe, and reflect on the postcard as a medium for historical research.

Combining ethnographic and archival research, this book examines the lives of colonial-period postcards and reveals how they become objects of contemporary historical imagination in India. Picture postcards were circulated around the world in their billions in the early twentieth century and remained, until the advent of social media, unmatched as the primary means of sharing images alongside personal messages. This book, based on original research in Bengaluru, shows that their lives stretch from their initial production and consumption in the early 1900s into the present where they act as visual and material mediators in postcolonial productions of history, locality, and heritage against a backdrop of intense urban change. The book will be of interest to photographic historians, visual anthropologists, and art historians.

* The book provides a glimpse of the visual history of India at the beginning of the industrial travel era, a hundred years back* Explore the geographic diversity of 130+ cities through 550 picture postcards of pre-Partition India* The book contains a detailed catalogue of the printers, photographers and publishers of the first picture postcards of IndiaWith the dawn of the twentieth century, at the height of the British Empire, came significant changes in the landscape of India - formation of new capital cities in the plains and summer retreats in the hills, evolution of towns or nagores and pores, growth of cantonment towns with their military and civil lines, development of ports or pattanams and creation of cultural, educational and trading centers, all increasingly well connected by an extensive rail, road and, later on, air network. The 550 postcards featured in this book visually document this growth, while also capturing evidence of earlier times in India's fascinating polytemporal towns. The postcards are divided across six chapters representing six regions within India and Pakistan, as they were a hundred years ago. Through these picture postcards and the supporting text, the readers can vividly imagine what it would have been like to travel by road or rail across India during the period 1896-1947. An attractive and nostalgic record of the topography of the time, these picture postcards are an untapped resource for those interested in the evolution of cities, town planning, architecture, ethnography, sociology or, simply, travel.

“Eschewing simple formulation of power's dependence on display, Saloni Mathur offers a brilliantly original disentangling of the anxious and involuted attempts to manage India as an 'aesthetic' project. Her account is rich in archival research, theoretically elegant, and exceptionally engrossing. With remarkable clarity, it opens colonial rule's 'cultural techniques' to a new set of illuminating questions.”—Christopher Pinney, author of Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India “India by Design is an elegant and precise book, remarkable for its conciseness and clarity. Taking a transnational perspective and deftly engaging postcolonial theory, Mathur explores not only the representations but also the representational practices that shaped imperial, colonial, and postcolonial relations.”—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, author of Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage “Saloni Mathur's book is a gathering of rare gifts and talents. With the subtle, searching eye of an expert curator, and the analytic skills of a fine scholar, Mathur explores the diverse scales and conflicting values of colonial design and discourse, arts and crafts. Monumental histories of museums are placed beside the petits recits of post-cards; the picturesque Victorian portraiture of Indian life makes a fine contrast with the celebration of 'modern' Indian art in the diasporic world of non-resident Indians. Always open to the lure and pleasure of Imperial display and spectacle, Mathur is equally astute about its underlying strategies of surveillance and subordination. This remarkable work is deeply engaged in the mechanics and mediations of Imperial authority and its visual signs.”—Homi Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University "Saloni Mathur manages to bring together remarkably diverse strands that make up the contemporary visual cultures of India and provide insights for art historians, anthropologists and cultural theorists alike. India by Design: Colonial History and Cultural Display illuminates issues that are long overdue but hardly ever addressed in the art historical circles. Mathur's command of theory is truly impressive, but even more noteworthy are her insights about Indian modernity and colonial and post-colonial institutions in and outside of the country."—Vishakha N. Desai, President, Asia Society

Anyone living or visiting Tucson holds a fascination for this eclectic southwestern city that offers up so much in the way of natural beauty and an interesting history. Tucson is a city that reflects a diverse cultural past that is much more than the pretty mountains ringing the city, so time for locals and visitors to take a fanciful trip down memory lane using a unique medium of the picture postcard. This colorful book contains over 150 postcard images covering some of the Old Pueblo's most loved tourist destinations, the University of Arizona, cultural institutions, Native Americans, cowboy history, lodging and even a section on the plants and animals of the region.

Take a journey through Indian architecture from the dawn of civilization to the present with this colorful, attractive survey. The architecture of India reflects both the cultural diversity of the subcontinent and its rich political and historical inheritance. In this guide, the various strands of this rich architectural history, from the dawn of civilization to modern times, are beautifully presented in word and picture. Readers are taken on a fascinating tour of Indus Valley civilization, early Vedic traditions, Hindu, Jain, Mughal, regional, colonial and post-independence architectural styles. Themes such as water architecture and the architecture of science also figure prominently, giving many westerners their first glimpse of these styles. The informative text, complemented by 400 photographs, watercolors, maps and plans, provide compelling evidence of India's influence on building design throughout history.

This groundbreaking volume examines how the Mughal Empire used architecture to refashion its identity and stage authority in the 18th century, as it struggled to maintain political power against both regional challenges and the encroaching British Empire.

A compelling history of British imperial culture, showing how it was adopted and subverted by colonial subjects around the world As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial delegates dispersed British cultural forms. Facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. But this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas had unintended and surprising results. In this groundbreaking history, John M. MacKenzie examines the importance of culture in British imperialism. MacKenzie describes how colonized peoples were quick to observe British culture—and adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, the empire itself was increasingly undermined. From the extraordinary spread of cricket and horse racing to statues and ceremonies, MacKenzie presents an engaging imperial history—one with profound implications for global culture in the present day.