CIViC’s images are the output of various studios, printing presses, and publishing houses. Often the names of studios, along with the names of artists and photographers, are interchangeable or are treated synonymously. The studios functioned like a karkhana or atelier, employing artists and often mediating between photography, printing and painting.This was particularly a common phenomenon with postcards. Raphael Tuck & Co, Clifton & Co, Marcopolo, Phototype & Co. etc. are a few of several such factories and the variation within this collection reflects their longevity, technical innovation and changing aesthetics and tastes over the years.
Studios also help us locate the places they privilege and help us draw arcs of particular and competing tastes of different regions, within India and across the world. Such different trends of showcasing India are seen to run through presses producing calendars, posters, periodicals, commercial labels etc. Unfortunately, even though the legacies built by these companies exist in the visual tropes that surround us today, the names of these companies are often not printed, corresponding with the idea of these prints ultimately being ‘unoriginal, cheap and ephemeral’.
The images below highlight some of the studios found in our archive.
Studios/ Printers/ Publishers in the CIViC Archive
Phototype Co. Bombay
D. Marcopolo & Co., Calcutta
Mahatta & Co.
Gobind Ram & Oodey Ram, Jaipur
Clifton & Co.
Combridge & Co., Bombay
Dware & Co
Higginbothams & Co., Madras and Bangalore
H. A. Mirza & Sons, Delhi
M. L. Shugan Chand, Delhi
Lal Chand & Sons, Photographers, Dariba, Delhi
K. Lall & Co., Agra
Dias & Co., Mahabaleshwar
P. S. Joshi, Oriental Publishing House, Ghatkoper (Bombay)
Mr. Sayed Ahmad ; Archaeological Department, Hyderabad
Archaeological Department Hyderabad
B. K. Abdul & Co. Ranikhet
Bharat Picture Publishers
A. Baggio & C Tornio
Raphael Tuck & Sons
Finlay Campbell & Co. Ltd, Manchester
Sangeet Natya Akademi
Ravi Verma Press, Bombay
Photo Division India