Mechanical reproduction and the world of the colonial artist

• Published in: Contributions to Indian Sociology Vol. 36; no. 1-2; pp. 1 - 32
• Main Author: Mitter, Partha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi, India SAGE Publications 01-01-2002
• Subjects: Art Works; Artists; Calcutta, India; Colonization; Digital technology; Identity formation; Ideology; India; Modernization; Nationalism; Printing; Sociology; Visual anthropology; Visual Arts
• ISSN: 0069-9667; 0069-9659; 0973-0648
• DOI: 10.1177/006996670203600102

The article analyses the revolutionary impact of the processes of mechanical reproduction on artistic production and formation of modern identity in colonial India. Mechanical reproduction, with endless repeatability as its chief characteristic, turned India into an ‘iconic society’. It affected the elite as much as the underclass, as elite artists vied with artisans to capture the greatly expanding market in cheap prints. Mechanical reproduction arrived in India in two basic forms: as a source for European masterpieces for Indian artists to copy, and as inexpensive images available even to the poorest. Unlike in the West, the printed image in India rivalled painting, thereby challenging its aura of authenticity. As the pioneering printmaking firms, Calcutta Art and the Poona Chitrashala Press show, mechanical prints helped forge the Indian nation by creating a common visual culture. However, the very nature of mass reproduction itself contributed to the weakening and diluting of the monolithic character of elite nationalism.