Dhirajlal R. Mody: The Forgotten Legacy Of An Early Indian Pictorialist, Rediscovered

As photography evolved from scientific technique to creative practice in 19th-century Europe, European photographers wanted to separate photography as an art form from the scientific ends to which it had been applied until then. In response to this growing desire to emphasise the technology's creative potential, they focused on the beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. In 1869, the British author and photographer Henry Peach Robinson wrote a book titled 'Pictorial Effect in Photography' and gave the movement its name: Pictorialism. From the late 19th century till the early 20th century, Pictorialism was the predominant movement in the realm of photography in Europe.

The Pictorialists approached the camera as a tool that, like the paintbrush and chisel, could be used to make art. This gave their photographs aesthetic value and linked them to the world of creative expression. In 20th-century British India, the Pictorialist approach of making painterly images with the camera, following the aesthetic concepts and conventions of painting, heavily influenced the photographic practice of early Indian amateur and professional photographers like Raja Lala Deen Dayal, Chunni Lall, Govind Shriniwas Welling, and Lalit Mohan Sen. The Bombay Photographic Society was established in October 1854, only a year after the Photographic Society of London, and inspired a new generation of Indian photographers. Soon, the rapidly expanding city of Mumbai (then known as Bombay) became the centre of the Indian photographic industry.

Dhirajlal R. Mody, also known as D.R. Mody or Dada, was one of the many Mumbaikars who were drawn to the art of photography during this time. A middle-class mill-working Mumbaikar and a hobbyist photographer, Mody went on to become one of the co-founders of The Photographic Society of India in 1937. Today the PSI is one of the oldest existing photographic societies in the country, but Mody is largely forgotten. Now, an archival exhibition of Mody's photographic output between 1938 and 1954 is trying to change that.

Conceptualised and compiled by his grandson, Tapan Mody (Creative Director, Yes Yes Why Not?) and his team, and presented by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the exhibition will showcase a selection of vintage photographs, awards, and memorabilia from the Mody family archive curated by Veeranganakumari Solanki.

DADA - AN ACCIDENTAL PICTORIALIST is presented by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) as a solo exhibition curated by Veeranganakumari Solanki at the Dilip Piramal Art Gallery in Mumbai from February 27 to March 16, 2025, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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