Current Exhibitions
Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs
H.H. Levy Gallery, Level 1
Until June 17, 2012
In the modern period, Indian visual forms have often combined past and present techniques in new hybrid varieties. Indian painted photographs exemplify this by combining established painting styles with the new technology of photography. This exhibition brings together 60 works from the ROM's collection that have been acquired in the last decade but never before on display. They date from the 1860s, a few decades after the invention of photography, to the 2000s, well after the introduction of colour photography.
Indian painted photographs were made to commemorate, convey status, and mark rites of passage such as coronation, marriage, pilgrimage, travel and death. Most combinations of paint and photography around the world have used colour to enhance the realism of a black and white image. In India, paint also has been applied to embellish a photograph, sometimes covering the entire print. This practice points to a different conception of the photograph-one that uses photography to achieve the other-worldly goals of painting while enhancing the emotional potential of the image.
Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs and Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s have been made possible through funding provided by the Government of Ontario.
Exhibit Sponsor
Government Partner
The ROM celebrates all things Bollywood and beyond!
Two exhibitions together survey over 100 years of Indian visual culture related to the painting, photography and film in India. They coincide with two North American firsts: the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Toronto, and the Year of India in Canada.
Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs features works from ROM's collection that combine past painting styles with the new technology of photography. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s shows a modern manifestation of the painted photograph in the form of cinema advertisements. Both use photography and colour to reflect a sense of hyper-reality that is deliberately meant to entice the emotions.
Portrait of Bhadariji Devarajaji
Ghasiram Haradev Sharma (1868-1930)
Opaque watercolor and gold on albumen silver print
New Haveli, Nathdwara, Rajasthan, India
1890s
24.5 x 20 cm (image)
2010.42.6
This acquisition was made possible with generous support from the South Asia Research and Acquisition Fund.
