Juggler with goat and monkey
An Dhurandhar portrait of a familiar sight on Bombay streets, the multi-tasking juggler. Note once again the soft city backdrop.
M.V. Dhurandhar
Artist-signed postcards by M.V. Dhurandhar (1867-1944), one of the premiere painters and illustrators around the turn of the century. Dhurandhar became the first Indian head of the J.J. School of Arts and where he was employed throughout his career. Most of these color postcards are from 1903-1904, were halftones and printed in Germany by an unknown publisher. Other cards from later in the decade and thereafter were published by Lakshmi Art Printing Press, and others often for advertising purposes by a variety of publishers in India and as far as Zanzibar.
Parsee Priest
A curious and perhaps not inadvertent confrontation between a Parsi priest and Queen Victoria, he seems to be asking her for something.
Puran Reading in a Temple
This image by the Indian painter M.V. Dhurandhar manages to convey a real sense of personality and drama to the situation through the face and gesture of the priest.
Sent to Miss C. Blackwood, R.D. Route No.
The Syce
A drawing by the painter M.V. Dhurandhar that animates the meaning of "syce" as having to do with "coaxing." It was defined by Hobson-Jobson (1906): "SYCE (p. 885) SYCE , s. Hind. from Ar. sāïs. A groom.
Victoria Driver
A lovely character sketch by the artist M.V. Dhurandhar of a carriage driver in turn of the century Bombay.
Progress of Fashion
A clever postcard by master artist M.V. Dhurandhar showing the modernization of fashion among women in his hometown of Bombay. This card was published by D.B.
Orthodox Hindu Widow
An exquisite Dhurandhar portrait, this of a widow framed in front of a tree and a temple in the background. Orthodox widows were normally not permitted to remarry and had to obey strict dress codes like not wearing a blouse under her sari.
Lascar
Lascars were sailors, mostly from the subcontinent, serving on European ships that sailed the world and who spoke their own multinational tongue, "Lascari." Throughout the 16th through 19th centuries many landed in Britain and America, with a few
A Jain Priest
Another Dhurandhar postcard masterpiece, with the pale green background and statue of Lord Mahavir, the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion setting off the living priest in the foreground.
Marwari
A moneylender strutting through the public square, carrying the ominous red books he uses to chase debtors through the courts, the vibrant city his backdrop.
