The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

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

c. 1890–1910

Photoglob Co.

(Zurich, active c. 1890–1910)
India, 19th century
Photochrom
Paper: 20.6 x 26.2 cm (8 1/8 x 10 5/16 in.)
Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2019.187
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.
  • Collection of Gunther Heil, Germany
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA
    September 9, 2019
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=India. Calcutta. Upper Chitpore Road (A), after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck|url=false|author=Photoglob Co.|year=c. 1890–1910|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.187