India. Calcutta. Upper Chitpore Road (A), after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck

c. 1890–1910

Photoglob Co.

(Zurich, active c. 1890–1910)

Culture

India, 19th century

Medium

Photochrom

Measurements

Paper: 20.6 x 26.2 cm (8 1/8 x 10 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2019.187

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Chitpore (now spelled Chitpur) Road is one of the oldest roads in Kolkata (previously Calcutta).

Description

This busy street corner gives us a glimpse into everyday life in turn-of-the-twentieth-century India. Unlike most of the mid-19th century genre photographs of colonial India, which were posed or staged, here people go about their business, unaware that they are being photographed. The color scene was made using a black-and-white negative by Dr. Kurt Boeck, a German actor and mountain climber who became a travel writer and lecturer specializing in Asia.