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Way into India
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Way into India was one of Raghubir Singh's last and greatest
projects before his death in 1999. The book is a testament to his
love affair with the sights, sounds and colors of his home country.
But it is also a tribute to one of the country's most unexpected
cultural icons — the Ambassador car.
Continuously
in production since 1957, the Ambassador is seen everywhere —
in all possible guises. From delivery van to diplomatic limousine,
the car is quintessentially Indian. Traveling back and forth across
the country, Mr. Singh reveals India through the windows of the
Ambassador.
Amongst
the bustle of the towns and the majesty of the countryside, he finds
rotting cars as well as pristine new ones used as taxis and/or poultry
vans.
In
Mr. Singh's photography, the old and the new sit side by side. India
— in its distinctive temples and tourists, monsoon rains, paddy
fields, tea plantations and elephants — is dramatically framed
by the Ambassador's distinctive curves.
About
Raghubir Singh
Born
in Rajasthan, India in 1942, Raghubir Singh began his career in
the mid-1960s, publishing work in every major photographic periodical.
In
the 1970s, he moved to Paris and — over the next three decades
— developed an international reputation with a series of books
of color photography on India.
Mr.
Singh received India's national award, the Padma Shri, in 1983.
By the time of his death in 1999, he was considered to be one of
the world's finest photographers.
His
work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute
of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern
Art in New York — and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
A retrospective
of his work, River of Colour, was published in 1998. (Phaidon Press)
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