-Great Masters-
Depicting Life’s
Philosophy through his Pictures
Raghu Rai
Raghu Rai is a world
renowned photo artist from India who portrays the life in such a realistic way
that his pictures seem telling some story with a philosophical touch. His creations
are milestone in the field of art photography. If one has to experience the
essence of life, he/she must go through the masterpieces of Mr. Rai. --Dr. Pankaj Sharma
“Raghu Rai (1942) a
qualified civil engineer, began his career as a photographer at the age of 23
in 1965. In the early years of his career he was the chief photographer at The Statesman (1966 to 1976), and later the Picture
Editor of Sunday magazine (1977 to
1980).
Soon after completing
the Thomson fellowship in England, he worked in The Times, London for four
weeks. Within this short time span three half pages picture essays of his work
were published with a byline. Recognizing his creative potential, Mr. Norman
Hall, the illustrious editor of The Times offered him a job, but Raghu
preferred to return to his own country to continue his creative journey in the
lanes and by lanes of his motherland.
In 1971, impressed by
his work in an exhibition at Gallery Delpire, Paris, the legendary photographer
Henri Cartier Bresson nominated Raghu Rai to Magnum Photos, the world's most
prestigious photographer's cooperative. Raghu continues to be part of this
organization till date. Around the same time he was awarded the 'Padmashree' (1972), for the body of work he
produced on the Bangladesh war, its impact on people and finally, the
surrender.
Rai became the Picture
Editor-Visualiser-Photographer of India
Today,
India's leading news magazine in its formative years. He worked on special
issues and designs, contributing trail blazing picture essays on social,
political and cultural themes (1982 to 1991). His series on Great Masters of
Indian Classical Music, film maker Satyajit Ray, Mother Teresa, had become
talking point of the magazine. In 1992
he was awarded "Photographer of the Year" in United States for the
story "Human Management of Wildlife in India" published in National Geographic. In 2009 he was
conferred Officere des Arts et des Lettres by Government of France. Photo essays by him have appeared in world's
leading magazines and newspapers - Time, Life, GEO, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Die Welt,
The New York Times, Sunday, The Times-London, Newsweek, Vogue, GQ, D magazine,
Marie Claire, The Independent and New Yorker. He has been an adjudicator for
World Press Photo Contest, Amsterdam and UNESCO's International Photo Contest
for many times.
The photo documentation
of 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy by him, and the continuing effects of the gas on the
lives of the victims under a special assignment from Greenpeace International were
compiled into a book. 3 sets of this
work travelled as exhibitions in Europe, America, Australia, India and South
East Asia from 2002 to 2005. This created greater awareness about the tragedy
which brought relief to the survivors.
Raghu Rai tirelessly continued to photograph India through the 20th
century and now into the 21st. His monumental body of work of myriad themes is
certainly a slice of India's modern history because of which he has come to be
known as the father of photo journalism in India.
Several books have been
produced of his work. Some of them are :
Indira Gandhi (1971, 1985, 2004 ); Mother Teresa -Faith & Compassion (1971,
1996, 2004); Bihar shows the way (1977); The Sikhs (1984, 2002), Delhi (1971,
1985, 1992, 2008 ); Romance of India (1985); Taj Mahal, (1986, 2012); Calcutta
(1989, 2008, 2013 ), Khajuraho (1991), Tibet in Exile (1991, 2009, 2012), My
Land and it's People (1995); Lakshadweep (1996); Men Metal and Steel (1998);
Madhya Pradesh (2000); Raghu Rai's India (2007, 2008); India's Great Masters -a
Photographic journey into the heart of classical music - 2010; Bombay - Mumbai
-where dreams don't die -2010; The Indians - 150 years of portraiture in India
- 2010; Varanasi -Portrait of a Civilization - 2010; Bangladesh -The Price of
Freedom 2012; Trees -2013; Mahakumbh 2014; Vijaynagara - Ruins to Resurrection
2014 etc.
Besides winning many
national and international awards, Rai has exhibited his works around the
world. Some of the major exhibitions include Retrospective at Museo de
Capitolini- Rome- 2005 ; Retrospective of his work at Arles Photography
Festival -2007 ; Asiatica Film Mediale, Rome - 2008; A Retrospective - National
Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi -2008 and at the National Gallery of Modern
Art, Mumbai -2008; at Aicon Gallery, London 2010 ( this show received full page
coverage in Sunday Guardian, The Times, BBC and various other publications;
Women Changing India - Saachi gallery, London 2011.
Exhibitions of his work
were held in Gallery Delpire, Paris - 1971; Nikon Gallery, Tokyo -1972; Gallery
Tsurumoto- 1992; A Retrospective at Bunkamura Museum, Tokyo -2001; Kendamy
Museum - Italy, 2002; A Retrospective at Photofusion, London, UK - 2002; at
Volkart Foundation, Winterthur, Switzerland- 2002; at Sala Consiliare, Venice,
Italy -2003; at the Photographic Gallery, Helsinki, Finland - 2003; Drik
Gallery, Dhaka, Bangladesh - 2004; Museo di Storia Naturale- Milan; Gallery
Caolmine- Switzerland; Centro Cultural Recoleta- Argentina; Centro
Universitario Belas Artes- Sao Paulo; Leica Gallery-Prague, 2004; Melkweg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
-2005; Art Car Museum- Texas (Houston); Fait et Cause Gallery -Paris;
Earthscapes series, Singapore - 2007; Just by the Way - Clouds, Rocks and
Nudes, India - 2007 ; Master Musicians of India - Singapore - 2007; Raghu Rai's
India -Pathshala, Drik, Bangladesh 2009; Master Musicians of India - Lalit Kala
Academy -Delhi 2010; Mother Teresa, A life Dedicated - Visual Art Gallery,
Delhi and Kolkata 2010; India - Mexico -The Parallel Wings - Instituto of
Cervantes, New Delhi 2010; Calcutta -Kolkata, Harrington Street Arts Center,
Calcutta, 2010; Format Festival Jan 2011; Raghu Rai' s India, A Retro at Foto
Freo Festival, Australia, 2011; India- A touring exhibition in Brazil, 2012;
Price of Freedom, Bangladesh -Bengal Museum of Art, Dhaka, 2012; Outside the
Margins-Photo exhibition for Save The Children, New Delhi-2012 ; TREES at Photo
Ink, Delhi 2013; Longing to Belong-Refugees in India, UNHCR-New Delhi, 2014; In
Light of India-A Retrospective, Hong Kong International Photographic and
Cultural, Aug/Sept 2014.
Raghu Rai lives in New
Delhi with his family and continues to be an associate of Magnum Photos.”
(Text and pictures
courtesy: Raghu Rai)
