Mitter Bedi
Mitter Bedi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 January 1926 |
| Died | 11 March 1985 (aged 59) Mumbai, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation(s) | Photographer and teacher |
| Known for | Industrial photography in black-and-white photographs and Academy in photography in Mumbai |
| Children | Three daughters |
Mitter Bedi (26 January 1926[1] – 11 March 1985[2]) was an Indian photographer, specialising in industrial photography, and a teacher.[3] Prior to his interest in the field there was little photographic use in advertising and his images have become classic icons. He was a recipient of several awards and he had his own photographic agency in Bombay (now Mumbai), which became well known in Asia.[2]
Early life[edit]
Mitter Bedi was born in Lahore, British India, on 26 January 1926. He studied at the D.A.V. School in Lahore from 1930 to 1940. He relocated to Bombay in 1940[4] and pursued his college education from the Vidyasagar College in Calcutta from 1940 to 1943. He married Sarla Goenka, and they had three daughters, Preeti, Jyoti, and Gayatri.[1]
Career[edit]
Bedi started his career by working for a printing press and the publicity department of a commercial firm and then took up a job in the film industry in 1947, the year of the partitioning of India and Pakistan into independent nations.[4] At the start of his career in the early 1950s, his photographic assignments covered small events, mostly related to weddings and birthday celebrations[4] or serving as the third or fourth assistant to a Bollywood film director.[5] He frequented the airport to photograph passengers departing and arriving, which prompted his father-in-law B.N. Goenka, an industrialist, to suggest that Bedi change professions or travel abroad. However Bedi was firm in his resolve to continue in his chosen profession and said: "I am never going to leave the profession but bring it to the heights it deserves".[6] In 1959 his photographic assignments saw a drastic change when he met Arthur D'Arzian,[5] who had specialized in photography of the steel and oil industry, during a social function of the Standard Oil Company in Bombay. Bedi then pursued engagements of Industrial photography, a new field just taking off in the country.[6]
Bedi's assignments covered public sector corporations and private enterprises.[4] From 1960 to 1985, he traversed the industrial regions of India taking pictures.[3] He took more than 2,000 photo shoots during the span of his career and covered projects from industries such as steel and oil, hospitality, mines, sugar, pharmaceuticals and many more.[4] To propagate black-and-white photography as a profession in the country he wrote many articles and also established an academy in Bombay which is still operational under the direction of his family members.[4] His photographs depicted a nation in which the factory and reactor dominated over the Indian people.[7] He also worked as visiting professor in: K.C. College of Journalism, Bombay during 1974–75; National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 1976; in Rajednra Prasad Institute of Communication, Bombay in 1978; and in SNDT Women's University, Bombay, 1978.[1] His academy in Bombay was a prominent institution in photography which enrolled national and international students and teachers.[1]
Bedi's images have become classic icons of the industrialization which was carried out in India under Nehru. In spite of the limiting aspects of photographs taken primarily for advertising,[4] Bedi introduced shape, design and geometric planes to create artistic rather than simply functional images.[5] His visual expressions and artistry were used by both the state and industrialists to drive national development. An oeuvre of his black-and-white photographs taken during the period 1960s to 1970s, was held at the Piramal Centre for Photography representing an Art Form in Mumbai.[4]
Bedi died in Bombay on 11 March 1985 due to a cardiac failure.[2]
Awards[edit]
Bedi's career achievements received acclaim through several awards. Some of the awards he received were: Two Kodak International Awards; nine Advertising Club Awards; and six Commercial Artists Guild (CAG) Awards. In 1984 he was honoured with CAG's "Photographer of the Year" award.[4]
Appreciation[edit]
Writing in The Hindu, Ranjit Hoskote observed:[4]
It took the late Mitter Bedi's pioneering efforts to demonstrate that industrial photography had scope for creativity. Unwittingly, perhaps, he has also bequeathed us with a moving account of the bold initial success, and eventual tragic failure, of the Nehruvian idea of modernity
. Bedi's photographer friend Jehangir Gazdar stated in India Today:[6]
It was in fact Bedi who almost single-handedly built up industrial photography in India. There are many others now, but he was the grandfather of them all. He started out from nothing to build a small-scale industry.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Series 1982, p. 56.
- ^ a b c India 1985, p. 117.
- ^ a b University 2000, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "In black and white". The Hindu. 22 October 2000. Retrieved 28 October 2015.[dead link]
- ^ a b c Doctor, Vikram (6 April 2005). "Shot from the heart". Mumbai, India: The Economic Times. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ a b c Kapoor, Coomi (5 December 2013). "Photography: Plain beauty: Mitter Bedi: The leader of industrial and commercial photography in India". India Today. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ Thorner 2002, p. 256.
Bibliography[edit]
- University, Cornell (January 2000). Business World. Ananda Bazar Patrika Limited.
- India, Press Institute of (1985). Vidura. C. Sarkar.
- Series, Contemporary arts (1982). Contemporary Photographers. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-16791-2.
- Thorner, Alice (2002). Land, Labour and Rights. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-071-6.
