Rajendralal Mitra and his Photography

Atanu Basu

Rajendralal Mitra can be truly called the Father of Photography in Bengal. In the year 1856, on January 2, the Bengal Photographic Society was founded. It is assumed that any serious pursuit of photography was initiated from that day onwards.

Later on, this day was named Bengal Photographic Day. Charu Guha Memorial Gallery on the second floor of the famous Coffee House at College Street, Kolkata, hosted a solo photographic exhibition of late Rajendralal Mitra, the pioneer in photography in Bengal. Incidentally, the founder and the first President of the Photographic Society was none other than late Rajendralal Mitra. Charu Guha was also a pioneer in the arena of photography in the last century. His son, late Shymal Guha later founded the gallery in memory of his father.
This photographic exhibition displayed printed copies, seven in number, photographed by late Mitra showing seven temples of Odisha. The photographs showed the Raja Rani Temple (9th century AD), Pawaneswar Temple, Multeswar Temple ( both of them belong to the 10th century AD), Lingaraj Temple, Bhasharewara Temple ( both of them belong to the 11th century AD), Bhaskaracharya Temple, Brahmeswara Temple (23rd century AD).

Late Shri Mitra faithfully followed the then maxim as regards the angle and the detailing in capturing the brilliant artworks of the temples.

This exhibition had other attractions as well. The exhibition also included the photograph of Vindu Sagar. It had showcased the equipment used by C Guha, like a camera and associated items, such as an Analogue camera and, view camera. In the exhibition, photographer Mr Jayanta Sau was present to provide a commentary about the equipment and about the photographs as well.

The exhibition also presented to its viewers many rare photographs, photographic materials, an album, along with modern-day photographs. Mr Asis Lahiri prepared a handout for this occasion. It is interesting to note that when Rajendralal was the treasurer of this society, he was entangled in a dispute with the British. All the Bengali office bearers, as well as members of the Photographic Society, tendered their resignations en masse.

Those were the days; photography was done using what was known as a weight plate. A solution was used to coat photographic films. Mitra had improved this process substantially by inventing a few important aspects of it. Later, the prestigious Asiatic Society published a monograph on photography authored by Shri Rajendralal Mitra. The has the title ‘Antiquities of Odissa’. A few photographs were taken from this book and were presented in this exhibition. Mr Jayata Sau had demonstrated a few things about the camera and photography.

Back to Home Page

Frontier
Vol 58, No. 8, Aug 17 - 23, 2025