Captain H.S. Rawhinson (recto)
1884
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1884
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
This is a black-and-white photograph of a British army officer in full uniform. He stands stiffly, one hand resting on a sword, the other holding a hat. It’s part of an album made for a British official in India—almost like a 19th-century travel photo book. The officer’s pose feels formal, but the picture itself was meant to be personal, a keepsake of colonial life. The photographer, Raja Deen Dayal, was one of the first Indian artists to document British rule through a local lens. Look up more photographs from the subject: india.
