Fotoreproductie met vier portretten van Indiase mannen ter illustratie van verschillende mannenkleding before 1866

This photogravure shows four portraits of Indian men, intended to illustrate different styles of male clothing, with a focus on cotton and silk. The original photographs would have been taken using the wet collodion process, a painstaking method involving coating a glass plate with chemicals, exposing it in the camera while still wet, and then immediately developing it. This demanding process often led to imperfections, adding a unique texture to each print. The photogravure process then transferred these images onto paper via an etched copper plate. This process allowed for detailed reproduction, suitable for disseminating information about textiles and male attire. Consider the social context: these images documented the clothing styles of Indian men, likely for a European audience interested in the material culture of the British colony. The creation of these images involved the labor of photographers, printers, and the Indian men who were models. It reflects the colonial gaze and the era's fascination with documenting and categorizing cultures.