One distinctive feature of the half-century celebrations of India’s independence is that most of the exhibitions, publications and performances that have marked it so far have either taken place or have been generated outside India. It’s now the turn of Indian photography. The respected American photography foundation and publishing house, Aperture, has put together an ambitious book and major travel-ling exhibition which has premiered at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It opens at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi in October and travels to Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. Aperture was a major force in American photography, particularly in the ’50s and the ’60s, when it was edited by the late Minor White. Aperture’s The Last Empire (1976) on 19th century British photography in India by Clark Worswick remains a classic, and many of Raghubir Singh’s recent books have been published by them. With major funding and support from Eastman Kodak, the Ford Motor Company, Air India and the Taj Group of Hotels, there were...
