Author Archives: Photomuse Editor

Seth (Banya), 1890, Gelatin Silver Print, 195×130 mm, Unknown Photographer, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Gift of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

Banya is an occupational community of merchants, bankers, money-lenders, dealers in grains or in spices, and in modern times numerous commercial enterprises. The term is used in a wider sense in Bengal than it is elsewhere in India. The gelatin silver process is the photographic process used with currently available black-and-white films and printing papers.…

Portrait of Sri. K. Karunakaran, 2005, Archival Pigment Print, 170 x 170 mm, Photographer – Mr. Herbert Ascherman Jr., PhotoMuse Collection, 2019, Gift of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal

K. Karunakaran (1936-2016) was born in Alappuzha, Kerala, southern India. He was a technician and began assisting his father Kunju Kunju Bhagavatar in the making and repairing of musical instruments at the age of 16. His tryst with cameras began when he was asked to repair the bellows of a torn field camera in 1942.…

Portrait of an American, c.1880, Cabinet Card, 108 x 165 mms, Photographer- Forshew, N.Y., PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Donation of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

The cabinet card was a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm (4 1⁄4 by 6 1⁄2 inches). It was usually made of an albumen print, The cabinet card was larger and usually included…

Portrait of a Young woman, c.1880, Cabinet Card, 108 x 165 mms, Photographer- Achley, Rockford, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Gift of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

The cabinet card was a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm (4 1⁄4 by 6 1⁄2 inches). It was usually made of an albumen print, The cabinet card was larger and usually included…

Portrait of an American, c.1870, Tintype, 105 x 65 mm, Unknown Photographer, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Donation of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

A tintype, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel. There are two historic tintype processes: wet and dry. In the wet process, a collodion emulsion containing suspended silver halide crystals had to be formed…

Portrait of three Women, c.1870, Tintype, 90 x 60 mm, Unknown Photographer, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Donation of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

A tintype, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel. There are two historic tintype processes: wet and dry. In the wet process, a collodion emulsion containing suspended silver halide crystals had to be formed…

Dr. Rajendra Prasad congratulates Mr. Sukumar Menon, 1959, Silver Halide Print, 245 x295 mms, Unknown Photographer, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Gift of Mr. Sukumar Menon.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad congratulates Mr. Sukumar Menon, during a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi, in 1959. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, scholar and subsequently, the first President of India, in office from 1950 to 1962.