British India

Bhanu Athaiya: Early days in Kolhapur

Bhanu Rajopadhye Athaiya (b. 1929) was born in her 300-year-old sprawling ancestral house in the heart of Kolhapur. Bhanu grew up surrounded by indigenous and western political, social and cultural influences. Her ability to translate all this information into the medium of cinema and art made her the first Indian ever to win an Oscar. Bhanu Athaiya is not only recognised as the revered doyenne of Indian costume designers; but also a remarkable modernist artist.

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Atul Bose and the Art of Portraiture

The art of portraiture seems much more enticing today when we live in a world where ‘portraits’ can be created at the click of a button with a single handheld device. There is something enigmatic about how artists in the past captured personalities with strokes of the brush and immortalized them in portraits. There is something romantic about the notion of portraits themselves, and how a sensitive artist could capture the physical characteristics as well as the psychological aspect of the subject of the portrait. 

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Orign of Black Hole of Calcutta

The Scots Magazine is one of the only copies of an 18th-century publication that contains a first-person account of the imprisonment of the British in the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta in Fort William. 

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India’s Wildlife and Shikar Culture

India is a country that has had a rich history of hunting. With an abundance of animals and land, big game hunting was very popular and considered to be an elite sport.

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An Account of East India Affairs

The London Chronicle, Vol II, No. 3346 from Tuesday, April 9 to Thursday, April 11, 1782, discusses the state of affairs in India as told by the East India Company at the House of Commons. 

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Henry Singleton's Art In India

Henry Singleton first rose to prominence as a contemporary history painter in a family that was known best for their miniature artworks. Born into an artistic family, Henry Singleton was raised by uncle William Singleton who painted portraits and miniatures. Although he dabbled in miniatures as well, his well-known works were portraits and historic paintings. 

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Rembrandt and his Mughal Art

Rembrandt Harmnenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch artist who became well known for his artworks that demonstrated realism with the use of light and shadow. Anyone who is interested in art history would know that Rembrandt was a great artist. Not only did he became well known in the Dutch Golden Age but he continues to well respected all over the world today.

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