Why Indian Art Took Time to Embrace Photography as Art
When New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held its first photography exhibition in 1937, it marked a major shift, photography was officially being recognized as a form of art. But in India, the journey for photography to be accepted as “art” took much longer. Even though the medium was introduced in India as early as the 1840s, it struggled for decades to find its place in the Indian art world.
Rise of Photography in India began under British colonial rule. It was used for official documentation. Because of this bureaucratic and scientific start, photography was viewed more as a tool of control than of creativity. It wasn’t born out of artistic exploration, but as a way for the colonizers to observe, catalog, and manage the country.
Meanwhile, traditional Indian art forms like miniature painting, sculpture, and textiles were seen as deeply symbolic, handmade, and tied to spiritual or cultural values. These forms involved time, skill, and often ritual. Photography, by contrast, felt mechanical and detached. It captured reality too literally, lacking the stylization and depth that Indian aesthetics celebrated. So even though Indian artists looked to the West for modern influences, they preferred mediums like painting or printmaking, which could still carry Indian sensibilities.
Another key reason photography wasn’t taken seriously was because it became common too quickly. By the early 20th century, it was used for weddings, family portraits, and ID cards. It was easily accessible and so it wasn’t seen as elite or refined. In contrast, painting continued to be taught in formal institutions and remained associated with serious artistic practice.
During the freedom struggle and the Swadeshi movement, artists were focused on reviving Indian traditions and rejecting Western influences. Art was used to promote national identity — and photography, linked to colonial administration, didn’t fit that purpose. Even after independence, Indian art schools continued to follow colonial curricula, where photography was treated as a technical craft, not an expressive medium.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s and early 2000s that Indian photography started gaining recognition as art. Contemporary photographers like Pushpamala N., Sohrab Hura, Dayanita Singh, and Gauri Gill explored themes like identity, memory, and gender through photography in innovative ways. Indian museums and galleries, like the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Museum of Art and photography, Devi Art Foundation also began supporting lens-based art.
In conclusion, photography’s slow journey to acceptance in Indian art was shaped by its colonial beginnings, cultural attitudes toward handmade art, its early popularization, and a lack of institutional support. But today, photography is finally being recognized for its creative potential and not just to document.
Featuring Image Courtesy: MAP Academy
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