Before images became something we carried in our pockets, printed pictures were one of the ways art, stories and ideas travelled. In India, chromolithographs and other printed images found their way into homes, shops, places of worship and everyday life, making them an important part of the country’s visual history.
Our collection of Vintage Chromolithographs, Paintings & Indian Art Prints brings together prints, chromolithographs, oleographs, paintings and other works on paper discovered through our travels and years of collecting. We look for images that are interesting not only as works of art, but also for what they reveal about the time and place in which they were made and circulated.
The collection includes historic Indian religious and devotional imagery, portraits, traditional subjects, reproductions of celebrated artworks and other unusual vintage prints and paintings. Some are remarkable for their colour and detail; others for their rarity, age or the story of how they found their way into a collection.
We are particularly drawn to the imperfections that come with age: the slight fading, old paper, traces of handling and original frames that tell you these images have been around for a while. Where we can establish the printer, artist, publisher, period or provenance, we share that context alongside the piece.
From chromolithographs and oleographs to vintage Indian paintings and collectible art prints, this is a collection built around the many ways images have been made, reproduced, collected and lived with in India.
