The new borns: India & Pakistan

Editor’s note: Frank Horvat, a young photojournalist, traversed newly independent India and Pakistan in the 1950s—a Leica camera in hand. A nikkah in Lahore, the Marine Bar in Calcutta, and the famed Heera Mandi, each offers an intimate portrait of a secret or confidential space. 

The piece was first published on The Heritage Lab—a wonderful resource of stories on cultural heritage, art, museums and lots more. You can find other wonderful essays on art and culture over at their website.

The early 1950s were a fascinating blend of promise and uncertainty in recently-independent India and a newly-formed Pakistan. This was also a time when illustrated magazines flourished across the world. But photos from South Asia remained a rarity for European publications, adding to the intrigue surrounding the region.

It was around this time that Frank Horvat, a young, aspiring photojournalist arrived at Karachi, Pakistan (in 1952) without a return-reservation. A meeting with noted photographer Henri Cartier Bresson the previous year, had encouraged him to adopt a Leica camera and travel extensively through India and Pakistan. He hoped to take pictures that would tell the world some great stories.  

Horvat’s choice of subjects and his presence in places forbidden, unfrequented by press-photographers quickly earned him publications in international magazines. Some of these were LIFE, Réalités, Match, Picture Post, Die Woche, and Revue. 

His photos—from Lahore’s Heera Mandi (the red light district), to the Marine Bar in Calcutta on a Christmas night, reveal his fascination for intimate, confidential scenes. One of his photographs from a Lahore wedding (Nikah ceremony)—during which the groom discovers his wife’s face in a mirror—was even chosen for the Museum of Modern Art’s groundbreaking exhibition ‘The Family of Man’ in 1955. It toured the world for eight years and was seen by more than nine million people. 

Early days behind the lens

Frank Horvat (1928-2020) is among the world’s most acclaimed photographers today. The last two years have witnessed exhibitions in tribute, and more recently, one in Paris celebrated his incredible globe-trotting career spanning eight decades and several countries. For a contemporary viewer, his early photos allow an experience of the unseen, untold lives of people in India and Pakistan. 

Mohammedan wedding, captured in 1952, Lahore, Pakistan 

This is the close-up shot of the bride in the mirror:

Heera Mandi ( the red light area), 1952, Lahore, Pakistan

This image is titled ‘Young dancers’:

This is the ‘Matron’:

Here’s the dancer’s area:

And this was the crowd:

On the Streets, Lahore 1952

This one’s called ‘Street Scene’:

This one depicts ‘Veiled Women’:

The photo below is titled ‘Hashish Smokers’:

Photos of India, 1952-53

This is Jantar Mantar in New Delhi:

The man in the image, on the spinning wheel, is Vinoba Bhave:

This image shows Harijan kids:

Here’s a cute image of a cow and wall paintings:

Lastly, this image is titled ‘Khedda’ (Capturing wild elephants):

Horvat became known as the photographer of ‘the body and the confidential’. He later moved to Paris and London, photographing a strip club, and producing a series on prostitution. 

In the 1960s, he returned once again to India as a part of his ‘grand tour’.

Supported by the Director-in-chief of the German reporting magazine Revue, he undertook for eight months a vast photographic essay around the world—through Cairo, Tel Aviv, Calcutta, Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, NYC, Rio and Dakar. 

Here’s a photo from Marine Bar, Calcutta on Christmas night (1962):

For more pictures and Horvat’s personal notes, visit Horvatland.