A Belle of Northern India

[Original caption] A Belle of Northern India. The women of Delhi and district are, to Western eyes, rather more pleasing than those of many other parts of India. They often affect a swinging bell-shaped skirt of striking colour and are decorated profusely with armlets and anklets that jingle rhythmically with their stride. [end]

In Flora Ann Steel's book India, a collaboration with the artist who signed this postcard, Mortimer Menpes, the same image was titled Late Afternoon. It remains one of Menpes best postcards, in which he uses the partially hidden face of the woman to electrify the view, catching the viewer in the very act of looking as the sun beats down on the bright colours.