Page 426 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PHOTOGRAPHY 423

paper he himself prepared, he received many awards for his photographs. Prodyot
Coomar Tagore (1873-1942), son of the zamindar of Pathuria Ghata of Kolkata
became the first member of London’s Royal Photographic Society in 1897. Before
that, he became a member of Photographic Society of India in 1893. Many of the
photographs taken by him later served as important historical evidence. 22
Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938), member of the Tagore family of Jorasanko,
Kolkata was not only a remarkable artist, actor and writer, but also a photographer. He
shot many rare photographs of members of the Tagore family at numerous family
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gatherings. Arya Kumar Chaudhuri (1881-?) was the son of Prativa Sundari, a
woman of the Tagore family. He attained skill not only in architecture and art, but also
in photography. He was one of the pioneers in the sector of color photography. 24
The credit for writing the first instruction book on photography goes to Adishwar
Ghatak (1864-1926). It was published from Kolkata in the Bengali year 1331. He was
inspired by Kshiroda Prasad Chattopadhaya to practice and teach photography.
Besides teaching them photography, he also inspired Bengalis to construct cameras
and lenses. Famous artist and photographer Manmathonath Chakrabarty (1886-1932)
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is another early writer on photography. Two books on photography written by him are
Alokchitrajnyana ba Photography Shiksha (Bengali year 1301) and Chhaya Bijnyan
(Bengali year 1332).
Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah of Dhaka and his son Nawab Khwaja Salimullah (1871-
1915) were involved in India’s Kolkata-centered Photographic Society almost at the
same time. Khwaja Salimullah became a member of this association in 1890. This
event proves that he used to practice photography. However, no photograph taken by
him has been discovered. Many memorable events took place in Dhaka during the
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era of Nawab Salimullah. These important social and political events were captured in
photographs taken by eminent photographer Fritz Kapp. He also took photographs of
many members of the Nawab family. He photographed many parts of Dhaka
(Shahbag, Chawkbazaar, Begunbari of Mirpur), and also Shilong and Kolkata. He had
a studio in Patuatuli of Islampur, Dhaka. 27
Photographs taken by him were published in newspapers of London, some of which
are still preserved in museums there. Bangladesh National Museum and Ahsan Manzil
have also collected his photographs.
The activities of Hiralal Sen (1866-1917) are a classic addition in the history of film and
photography of Bangladesh. Around 1890 he set up a studio called ‘Amaravati Fine Art
Association’ in his own village Bogjury of Manikganj district. Later he went to Kolkata
and along with his brothers Matilal and Devakilal set up a studio named ‘H. L. Sen
Brothers’. He received a gold medal in the Indian Art Exhibition in 1898. During the
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end of the 19th century scientist Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose played a pioneering role in
enlargements of landscape photographs and taking X-ray images. The credit for first
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publishing a book on photography in Bengali from Dhaka goes to Anandakishore Ghosh