Ferry Boats, Quilon Backwaters, Kerala State, India; Mappila Boys Walking the Ramparts of Bekal Fort, Built by the Kaladi Nayaks (1500 - 1763), the Karnataka Kings; County-Craft Transporting Coconut Products from Villages to Alleppey Warehouses lining a Canal

Raghubir Singh was born in 1942 in Jaipur, India. During his prolific career, Singh published 13 books of color photographs taken throughout various regions of India between the years 1974 and 1999. Singh's books have been thematically organized by geography, "either by state (Rajasthan, 1981; Kashmir, 1983; Kerala, 1987; Tamil Nadu, 1997) by city (Calcutta, 1975, and Calcutta, The Home and The Street, 1988; Benares, 1986; Bombay, 1994) by river (The Ganges, Sacred River of India, 1974, and The Ganges, 1992) or by road (The Grand Trunk Road, 1995)." (The Colors of India: Raghubir Singh, Art in America, March 2000.)
Singh's photographic style was heavily impacted by the work of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, often considered the father of modern photojournalism. Interestingly, Singh met with Cartier-Bresson in Jaipur in 1966. Although many similarties exist between the two artists, Singh's decision to use color differs from Cartier-Bresson's preferred black and white film. Singh has noted, "unlike those in the West, Indians have always intuitively seen and controlled colour" (The Colors of India: Raghubir Singh, Art in America, March 2000). Tragically, Singh died at the age of 57 in 1999 in what many consider to be the height of his career.
Please note that this lot is accompanied by the book Kerala: The Spice Coast of India