Vintage photographs reveals TN’s colonial connect

Samuel Bourne, an Englishman, first landed in India in the port of Madras in 1863. By then, Dr. Alexander Hunter, another stalwart of photography in India, had started teaching photography at the Madras School of Arts. 

Though Bourne was impressed by the interest the city showed towards photography, it was the regal charms of Kolkata that captivated him more. Bourne moved to Kolkata and set up one of the most prestigious studios of its time, Bourne and Shepherd, in partnership with Charles Shepherd there and continued to immortalise Indian scenery, architecture and people through his photographs. 

“The Bourne and Shepherd studio in Kolkata, up until its closing last year due to legal issues, was considered one of the oldest operating photography studios in the world,” says Anishaa Taraporvala, a representative of Tasveer. It was in 1869 that Bourne came back to South India to produce his now famous photographs of Nilgiris. 

Though his photography is associated with the Himalayas, the Ganges plains, Kolkata and Simla, nearly 90 photographs out of the almost 2,200 pictures he took of India, were clicked in various parts of Tamil Nadu, like Tanjavore, Udhagamandalam, Tiruchirapalli and Chennai. 

In November 1869, Bourne also held an exhibition of his Nilgiris collection at the Ameer Bagh Hotel in Chennai. “Bourne has extensively photographed Chennai — then Madras. But we haven’t included these in the exhibition. 

However, we do have three photographs of Ootacamund (Udhagamandalam) at the exhibition. Bourne captured his images in great detail, but, because of they have only been reproductions in small sizes, people haven’t really enjoyed it. 

This is why, along with his vintage photographs that we sourced from Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore, we have included enlarged modern reprints of his select works,” adds Anishaa. These images showcase the lake from Jail Hill, a church near Audrey House, Elk Hill of Bellur and Koondahs.