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Raghubir Singh

RAGHUBIR SINGH

Rajasthan (1974–1998) Jhaveri Contemporary
Mehrangarh Fort 23 November 2024–28 February 2025
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Press Release

Raghubir Singh (b.1942, Jaipur – d.1999, New York), a pioneer of colour street photography, worked and published prolifically from the late 1960s until his sudden death in 1999. Born into an aristocratic family in Rajasthan, Singh was a thoroughly cosmopolitan artist. He lived abroad for most of his adult life—in Hong Kong, Paris, London, and New York—but his eye was perpetually drawn back to his native India. Working with a handheld camera and colour slide film, he recorded the country’s dense milieu in complex frieze-like compositions, teeming with incident, fractured by reflections, and pulsating with vibrant colour.

Showing for the first time in a major venue of his native state, Raghubir Singh’s Rajasthan 1974-1998 at Fort Gallery presents the state’s vibrant character from the perspective of the street. Although Singh left India in the 1970s, Rajasthan never stopped captivating him or being a part of his identity: ‘I never considered myself an expatriate,’ he has said. Travelling along his own artistic path, Raghubir forged a distinctively Indian style of modern photography—a cultivated amalgam of Western and South Asian modes of picturing the world.

Focusing on masterful photographs made in Rajasthan, this presentation encompasses all of Raghubir Singh’s major iconographic themes: rivers and floods, religious devotion, the controlled chaos of city streets, and the residues of colonialism in modern Indian culture. Reflected in the exhibition is Singh’s lifelong preoccupation with ‘the geographical culture of India’ and the intricate intertwining of land, climate, and tradition.

Raghubir Singh accomplished 14 monographs and his work has been in many solo and group exhibitions, including at Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2022); Royal Ontario Museum (2018); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2018); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017-18); Barbican Art Gallery, London (2012); Art Institute of Chicago (1999); National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1999); and National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (1999).

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About the Artist

Raghubir Singh (b.1942, Jaipur–d.1999, New York. Lived and worked in India, Paris, London, and New York) explored the creative possibilities of photography at a time when the medium was both unpopular and largely ignored. Singh lived and worked in Paris, London, and New York, but made his best-known work in his homeland. Over thirty years he captured India and the infinite richness and variety of its people, places and customs. Widely published in books and mag-azines and exhibited worldwide, Singh is celebrated as a pioneer in the use of colour in photography and experimental composition.

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Also Exhibiting at Jhaveri Contemporary

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Sabrina Tirvengadum Jhaveri Contemporary
17 Radley Mews, London 26 June–30 July 2026
About the Gallery

Jhaveri Contemporary was formed in 2010 by sisters Amrita and Priya with an eye towards representing artists, across generations and nationalities, whose work is informed by South Asian connections and traditions. The gallery’s dedication to original scholarship, engendered through its carefully crafted shows, is one of the many ways it distinguishes itself. Entwined with this philosophy is another guiding principle: showcasing the heterogeneous practices of long-celebrated luminaries as well as emerging talents, often in generously interrogative conversations. With a focus on mining lesser-known art histories, Jhaveri Contemporary facilitates dialogue between artists, curators and historians to add to the wider field of art. Estates served by the gallery include Mrinalini Mukherjee and Anwar Jalal Shemza.

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Address
Mehrangarh Fort

Sodagaran Mohalla,

Jodhpur,

Rajasthan 342001,

India

(1)
Mumbai 3rd Floor Devidas Mansion, 4 Mereweather road
Jhaveri Contemporary contemporary art gallery in Mumbai India
Jhaveri Contemporary
3rd Floor Devidas Mansion, 4 Mereweather road, Apollo Bandar Colaba, Mumbai, India
+91 22 2202 1051
http://www.jhavericontemporary.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 6:30pm
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