Blog
New paintings based on British Raj photos
Some of the photos in the collection.
23/11/2015
In February I trotted round India bothering the Rajasthanis, and fetched up in Udaipur. The City Palace mounts the city like a titanic creamy mountain, with the sloping square issuing from its gates like a great golden tongue. The swarming streets seeth with saried women, bullocks, running children, traders, tourists, motorbikes. The lake spreads out below the palace, merchant houses painted pastel colours fill skinny streets, where people wander among the animals and it is so pleasant to amble around, chatting and looking at everything.
I did the City Palace tour and of course all was lovely but I was most intrgued by a small collection of dingy photos hangig in a dark room. These showed soldiers and officials from the British Raj, and I was fascinated that a delicate hand had painted in details of eyeliner and moustaches.
When I returned to England I began working on paintings based on these photos, and doing a bit of reading around the subject. I discovered to my horror just how awful the Britsh had been to the Indians - but more of that in another post.
I did the City Palace tour and of course all was lovely but I was most intrgued by a small collection of dingy photos hangig in a dark room. These showed soldiers and officials from the British Raj, and I was fascinated that a delicate hand had painted in details of eyeliner and moustaches.
When I returned to England I began working on paintings based on these photos, and doing a bit of reading around the subject. I discovered to my horror just how awful the Britsh had been to the Indians - but more of that in another post.
