Washing Day Dhobi Washer Woman
A humorous colonial postcard comparing clothes washing in England and India, part of a larger artist-signed series by the large Kolkata retailer.
George Darby
George Darby was an accomplished artist who worked in turn-of-the-century Calcutta, creating humorous sketches and drawings depicting the life and times of the local and European communities.
Projit B. Mukharji writes in his original research on this little-known artist who did not even use his full name when he signed more than dozen postcards published by Thacker, Spink & Co. in Calcutta: "George Darby’s sketches evoke a world that is imperial in scope, but workaday in scale. Denuded of its pomp and bluster, it is a world whose richness lay in its intricate sociality and indomitable joie de vivre, rather than its affluence and political authority. In Darby’s eyes what made the imperial capital unique was its people, its animals and its distinctive ways of being more than the palaces and parades."
Read The Art of George Darby by Projit B. Mukharji
Best Christmas Wishes 1908
A 101 years later, a look at a Christmas card from a major Calcutta retailer.
How our Food is cooked The Bawarchi The Cook
A humorous card by one of the largest Raj retailers, comparing Western and Eastern cooks and procedures. It is signed by the artist Geo[rge] D. and dated [19]11 in the bottom right corner.
