India. Calcutta. Upper Chitpore Road (A), after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck

1900

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

India. Calcutta. Upper Chitpore Road (A), after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck is a 1900 by Photoglob Co., a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Photoglob Co.
When & what style?: 1900 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a crowded street in Calcutta, packed with people, carts, and buildings under a bright sky. This photo feels alive because the people aren’t posing—they’re just going about their day. It was made from a black-and-white negative taken by a German traveler, then colored later. Most old photos of India from this time were stiff and staged, but this one isn’t. If you like this, look up more photos tagged *india, 19th century*.

The story of this work

Overview

This busy street corner gives us a glimpse into everyday life in turn-of-the-twentieth-century India. Unlike most of the mid-19th century genre photographs of colonial India, which were posed or staged, here people go about their business, unaware that they are being photographed. The color scene was made using a black-and-white negative by Dr. Kurt Boeck, a German actor and mountain climber who became a travel writer and lecturer specializing in Asia.