Government of India
Rajendra Prasad Talks on the Phone S Radhakrishnan is seen in the Background
Keywords: Photograph
Rajendra Prasad
S Radhakrishnan
Publisher: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Description: These photographs by Kulwant Roy are an indelible record of some of the moments that altered the course of the nation, such as the meetings in Shimla, the birth of the Republic when the Indian constitution was signed or the tragedy of the Mahatma’s assassination. This iconic image captures a candid moment as the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad speaks into a telephone while the first Vice-President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (and second President) looks on in the background. This set of 227 photographs by Kulwant Roy gifted to the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi range primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. They are a visual archive of a momentous era in India's history, including many unpublished pictures. Some of the rare documentation includes Muslim League meetings, INA trials, the signing of the Indian constitution, as well as significant post-independence milestones such as the building of the Bhakra Nangal Dam.
Type: Photograph
Received From: National Gallery Of Modern Art, New Delhi
| DC Field | Value |
| dc.creator | Roy, Kulwant |
| dc.coverage.spatial | India |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-10-13T06:51:11Z |
| dc.date.available | 2020-10-13T06:51:11Z |
| dc.description | These photographs by Kulwant Roy are an indelible record of some of the moments that altered the course of the nation, such as the meetings in Shimla, the birth of the Republic when the Indian constitution was signed or the tragedy of the Mahatma’s assassination. This iconic image captures a candid moment as the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad speaks into a telephone while the first Vice-President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (and second President) looks on in the background. This set of 227 photographs by Kulwant Roy gifted to the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi range primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. They are a visual archive of a momentous era in India's history, including many unpublished pictures. Some of the rare documentation includes Muslim League meetings, INA trials, the signing of the Indian constitution, as well as significant post-independence milestones such as the building of the Bhakra Nangal Dam. |
| dc.description.statementofresponsibility | Kulwant Roy was born in the year 1914 in Bagli Kalan, Ludhiana, and educated in Lahore. Like other photographers at that time, Roy had no formal training in the medium. Instead, he learned on the job at Gopal Chitter Kuteer, the studio in Lahore where he worked. As a young man in the late 1930s, Roy began recording the activities of the Indian National Congress. He photographed Jawaharlal Nehru as a Seva Dal volunteer in Kanpur, and travelled with Mahatma Gandhi across India, accompanying him to the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) when he went to meet Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. In 1941, Roy joined the Royal Indian Air Force, training as an aerial Lensman in Kohat, near Quetta. He was assigned on an aerial mapping project to take photographs of the NWFP region with special cameras mounted on the aircraft. After defying a racist rule, he was summarily dismissed from his service, at which point he resumed photojournalistic work in Lahore. Roy worked as a freelancer and formed his own photographic agency, Associated Press Photos and shifted his agency to Mori Gate in Delhi. For the next three decades he pursued his vast and varied photographic career documenting the life of the newly independent country. Kulwant Roy passed away in 1984. For a long time his work was lost to obscurity but off late, he has been recognized as one of the most prolific visual chroniclers of 20th century Indian history. |
| dc.format.extent | 22.5 x 24.5 cm |
| dc.format.mimetype | image/jpg |
| dc.publisher | National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi |
| dc.subject | Photograph Rajendra Prasad S Radhakrishnan |
| dc.type | Photograph |
| dc.identifier.accessionnumber | ngma-16643 |
| dc.format.medium | image |
| DC Field | Value |
| dc.creator | Roy, Kulwant |
| dc.coverage.spatial | India |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-10-13T06:51:11Z |
| dc.date.available | 2020-10-13T06:51:11Z |
| dc.description | These photographs by Kulwant Roy are an indelible record of some of the moments that altered the course of the nation, such as the meetings in Shimla, the birth of the Republic when the Indian constitution was signed or the tragedy of the Mahatma’s assassination. This iconic image captures a candid moment as the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad speaks into a telephone while the first Vice-President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (and second President) looks on in the background. This set of 227 photographs by Kulwant Roy gifted to the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi range primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. They are a visual archive of a momentous era in India's history, including many unpublished pictures. Some of the rare documentation includes Muslim League meetings, INA trials, the signing of the Indian constitution, as well as significant post-independence milestones such as the building of the Bhakra Nangal Dam. |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Kulwant Roy was born in the year 1914 in Bagli Kalan, Ludhiana, and educated in Lahore. Like other photographers at that time, Roy had no formal training in the medium. Instead, he learned on the job at Gopal Chitter Kuteer, the studio in Lahore where he worked. As a young man in the late 1930s, Roy began recording the activities of the Indian National Congress. He photographed Jawaharlal Nehru as a Seva Dal volunteer in Kanpur, and travelled with Mahatma Gandhi across India, accompanying him to the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) when he went to meet Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. In 1941, Roy joined the Royal Indian Air Force, training as an aerial Lensman in Kohat, near Quetta. He was assigned on an aerial mapping project to take photographs of the NWFP region with special cameras mounted on the aircraft. After defying a racist rule, he was summarily dismissed from his service, at which point he resumed photojournalistic work in Lahore. Roy worked as a freelancer and formed his own photographic agency, Associated Press Photos and shifted his agency to Mori Gate in Delhi. For the next three decades he pursued his vast and varied photographic career documenting the life of the newly independent country. Kulwant Roy passed away in 1984. For a long time his work was lost to obscurity but off late, he has been recognized as one of the most prolific visual chroniclers of 20th century Indian history. |
| dc.format.extent | 22.5 x 24.5 cm |
| dc.format.mimetype | image/jpg |
| dc.publisher | National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi |
| dc.subject | Photograph Rajendra Prasad S Radhakrishnan |
| dc.type | Photograph |
| dc.identifier.accessionnumber | ngma-16643 |
| dc.format.medium | image |
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