- Hardcover: 144 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; First Edition edition (15 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224050893
- ISBN-13: 978-0224050890
- Product Dimensions: 31.5 x 25.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
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- #56 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > India
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
If either William Dalrymple or Salman Rushdie required a photographic companion to their writings on contemporary India, then surely it is this. Don McCullin's extraordinary new collection of photographs, India. Dalrymple's recent book The Age of Kali captures the darker, tumultuous side of modern India, a perfect counterpoint to Rushdie's celebration of the fertile chaos of post-war India, captured in The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Both visions of India are brought to graphic life by McCullin, who claims that "If I had eternal life I would do eternal books about India".
The book is broken down into short photographic essays, spanning three decades of McCullin's visits to India. As with his now classic collection Sleeping with Ghosts: A Life's Work in Photography, the images are consistently compelling, haunting and arresting. India moves from the horrific and agonising pictures of the refugee crisis in Bangladesh in the early 1970s, to extraordinary scenes of poverty and devotion at the festivals which punctuate the Hindu calendar. But McCullin retains his most personal and powerful images for the astonishing street life of 1990s Calcutta. Beggars, lepers, traders, the sick and the dying all stare back at us, imbued by McCullin with an extraordinary aura of humanity and dignity in the midst of despair and degradation. Time and again in his notes to the images, McCullin concedes his ambivalence towards a country which contains so much beauty and tranquillity, but which is also marked by poverty and suffering. But from this ambivalence emerges a truly beautiful collection of photographs. India is destined to become a classic. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
In his autobiography, Unreasonable Behavior, Don McCullin spoke of his "abiding love of India" after making his first trip down the Ganges with travel writer Eric Newby. He returned often, sometimes on harrowing assignments but more often for the sheer pleasure of imbibing the generous spirit of its people and for enjoying what has become for him "the most visually exciting place in the world". In his introduction to India, Norman Lewis observes: "All the human qualities -- fortitude, compassion, charity, but above all dignity -- he finds everywhere on display". A remarkable book from one of the finest photographers of our day. Don McCullin was a photojournalist for London's Sunday Times for 18 years; his photos of every major conflict of the last 30 years provide some of the most potent images of the 20th century.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The quality of these black and white images is amazing. Often harrowing, the images of the body of a young boy being buried by his father are particularly disturbing. The dark tone of the subject matter is reflected by the method of printing the images; the sky detail is particularly impressive. Not all doom and gloom, but not for the faint hearted.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Don McCullin is without a doubt my favourite photographer and I have long admired his work which I became aware of through The Vietnam War and the early Sunday Times Magazine - both now having long moved on. It is, of course, his war and conflict photography for which he is famous and taking his style to the more peaceful India presents a great challenge. I guess the question is, has this worked? In India we see the usual McCullin style of dark, moody pictures forcing the viewer to look both closely for the detail and broadly for the effect. Equally, we look for the content and to a certain extent McCullin has had to search for this more so than the war pictures he has often been presented with, albeit that he had to put himself in that position to get them. And this shows. In the harrowing pictures of cholera victims, in the faces of death and refugees I see the McCullin moments, in some of the more everyday pictures I see the McCullin style but not the moment. But what I do see here is the transition that goes on to be more evident in the McCullin of today - pictures he now takes of Africa, Roman Empires and his home counties - and I think that this is the real strength of India. It is here that I see him coming to terms with himself after what must of been the hell of war for him and finding something that he may well be able to identify as peace. I spent a long time waiting to obtain this book - I don't know how I missed it in 1999 when it was first published - and brought my copy secondhand - it was worth every penny. I think it represents a period in McCullin's portfolio where he both let go and moved on, where he let go of the old McCullin and reached out to the new McCullin - it works.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Great Photographer
28 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
Don McCullin's work is fascinating. His portraits and documentary photos are powerful and beautiful. I was moved and drawn in many times as I looked through this book.
This book, as well as the work shown in SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS, is an inspiration. I am a student of photography and McCullin's work inspires me to search for the best content I can.
Like Cartier-Bresson, Mary Ellen Mark, Eugene Richards and other great photographers, McCullin's technical skill and his vision also serve as inspiration to anyone who loves photography.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
India
2 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
So many books about India focus on one theme, poverty. Don McCullin witnesses something very different, strength!
India is a country, no matter how you photography it; it looks the same. The people, the landscape, the ceremonies, the scared cows, it all looks the same! People have always been fascinated with India and it remains very popular and exotic. Don McCullin images focus on Indians working, living, and dying throughout the country. They are without doubt some of the most powerful and respectful photographs of a people that have been taken.
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