From Pictorialism to Realism: On Marg's 1960 Issue

In an issue dedicated to photography from December 1960, Marg magazine featured a stellar line-up of photographers who contributed to the issue. RJ Chinwalla, who had a regular column on photography in the Times of India during the 1950s and the 1960s, was the guest editor. JN Unwalla, another contributor to the issue, was the co-founder of the Camera Pictorialists of Bombay, a camera club started in March 1932. This edition of the magazine served the dual purpose of disseminating photographs from the landmark photographic exhibition, Images of India, held in 1960, as well as using the platform to study the trajectory of photography over the last fifty years.

In the previous post, we examined how images used in the variety of advertisements helped us contemplate the landscape of photography in the 1960s. The texts in the issue, on the other hand, focused on trying to justify photography’s position as an art form, which was an ongoing debate, even globally, at the time. Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man exhibition had reopened the debate, particularly in the museum space. When the exhibition travelled in India, across seven cities, its curator’s words initiated extensive conversations around photography’s description as a “Folk art of the masses.”

While it had already been established that photography had, as photographer Shama Kilanjar writes in “The Amateur and His Camera” as part of the issue, “…emerged as the greatest hobby in the world, leaving the philatelist sleeping at the doorpost”; the magazine edition sought to bring together practitioners in the field to investigate it as an art form. The themes explored included the shifting trends from pictorialism to realism; exhibition and display strategies; as well as discussions around what makes a good photograph. International trends in photography were covered through contributions by artists like Henri Cartier-Bresson and AR Leyden. Photographers like JN Unwalla and RJ Chinwalla (who was also an advisor on the issue) explored the changing trends in modern Indian photography.

In discussing the importance of exhibition practices, Chinwalla writes:

“If our Camera Clubs, who have such great talent in their members, begin to realize that Salons and Exhibitions are not meant merely for adding a few more plaques to the collections of their leading exhibitors, but begin to think of a more universal plane, there will be no dearth of good Photographic Exhibitions in India.”

As suggestions, he proposed exhibitions looking at subjects such as “India at work and play, family planning, and scores of other topics of social importance, instead of formal exhibitions.”

Thus, in attempting to look at photography more holistically and propose a route for advancement, we witness a push for the transition from pictorialism to realism and photojournalism. Images of India had taken such an approach looking at the representation of India under themes such as “Architecture and Sculpture,” “City Sights and Village Ways” and “Planning and Progress.” Most images in this section reveal a strong photojournalistic urge, that photographers like Sunil Janah and S. Paul would go on to be known for.

In the last section of the magazine, a symposium titled, “What Makes a Good Photograph,” brought together the views of practitioners like Jitendra Arya (who stressed on the technical perfection of an image) and Kasi Nath (who valued the emphasis on concept) among others. The textual drive of this publication made no central claim as to what photography was, but it instead stressed on all its artistic possibilities. It presented a growing network of practitioners and infrastructure for the art form in the present. This landmark edition broadened the discussions around photography and its possibilities.