Bourne & Shepherd The world's oldest photo studio bids adieu
Bourne & Shepherd, widely believed to be the world's oldest photography studio, closed its doors to the world on June 16 after having operated for 176 years. Once a cultural touchstone for the city of Kolkata, frequented by the likes of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray, the Gothic-style four-storey building now stands forgotten and in ruins.
“Bourne & Shepherd was once an important landmark of the city. You would see an assortment of imported vehicles parked outside the building through the 1940s to the 1980s,” P Sarkar of Metropolitan Photo studio, which is right next door, told the Indian Express.
First set up in 1840 as 'Howard, Bourne & Shepherd' by English photographers William Howard, Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd, the studio was renamed 'Bourne & Shepherd' after the departure of Howard in 1866. It fast became India's leading studio, and was patronised by Indian royalty and the upper crust of the British Raj, commissioned for portraits and ceremonial photography. Its works were retailed widely across the Indian subcontinent and in England. Today, many of its photographs are on display at the Cambridge University Library, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Gallery of Portraits.
The last 25 years have seen Bourne & Shepherd beset by a plague of misfortunes. In 1991, the studio suffered an inferno that destroyed much of its equipment and decades worth of archive material – some of the finest and most historically significant images from the modern era – a blow from which it never truly recovered. Business took a hit. To add to that, it recently lost a 14-year-long legal battle with the owner of the building, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which now has control of the building. In the face of all this the owner, Jayant Gandhi, began preparing for a dignified exit, and the studio quietly suspended operations in April.
Made largely redundant by the advent of digital photography, and unable to compete with the technological juggernauts, the studio saw no reason to fight to stay open. After a long struggle, Bourne & Shepherd officially shut shop this month. Concerns remain over what will happen to it; despite an online petition urging the LIC to convert the studio into a museum befitting its place as a cultural gem worthy of preservation, but many doubt the corporation is interested in doing so. Others are also calling for the intervention of the central or state government to spearhead a preservation initiative.
Dewan Khana lobby in Kanch Mahal palace in Amber, India, 1872, by Bourne & Shepherd. Credit: Leiden University Library, KILTV, via Wikimedia Commons
Gateway in the Fort at Gwalior, 1883, by Bourne & Shepherd. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Viceroy's Executive Council and Secretaries, Simla, 1864, by Bourne & Shepherd. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Assamese women picking tea leaves, 1903, by Bourne & Shepherd. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Opium manufacture in India, 1899, by Bourne & Shepherd. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Feature image credit: Biswarup Ganguly/CC by 3.0