ROM Celebrates Year of India with Exhibition of Bollywood History

ICC presents North American debut of Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents the North American debut of Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s, a visual journey through the history of Bollywood advertising. Organized by the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM in collaboration with the Hartwick Collection, the exhibition will be on view in the special exhibitions gallery on Level 3 of the Museum from June 11 to October 2, 2011.


Bollywood Cinema Showcards embodies the quirky and colourful style of India’s cinematic culture with a display of rare, vintage showcards – colourful hand painted photo collages commissioned to advertise the release of Bollywood films, originally exhibited in display cases outside cinema theatres. The exhibition features over 120 works of art, including 77 showcards from the private collection of Angela Hartwick and a selection of posters, lobby cards and film booklets from the ROM’s permanent collection. The installation will be organized chronologically, tracing the aesthetic and thematic evolution of Bollywood graphic design as seen in its advertising, from the years after India’s independence in 1947 through the liberalization of India’s economic policies in the early 1990s.


The exhibition coincides with another North American debut - The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Toronto - providing an interesting historical context to modern day Indian cinema. Bollywood Cinema Showcards also contributes to the national celebration of 2011 as the Year of India in Canada, as designated by a bilateral treaty between India and Canada.


“Bollywood Cinema Showcards is a unique opportunity for visitors to see this rare collection of vintage cinematic art, bringing early Bollywood culture and design to life,” said Janet Carding, ROM Director and CEO. “I’m delighted that the ROM is contributing in such as significant way to this year-long celebration of India in Canada.”


Bollywood cinema is deeply rooted in the cultural traditions of the East, and has become a growing fascination among art, film and pop-culture enthusiasts across the West. ROM curator of South Asian Arts & Culture, Dr. Deepali Dewan, states, “This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to explore the evolution of a specific form of advertising associated with the Hindi commercial cinema centered around Mumbai. These showcards combine paint and photography and are a unique aspect of South Asian visual culture. They were originally produced by local artists but usually thrown out at the end of a film’s run. It is remarkable that this collection has survived at all.”


Also on view during this time is Embellished Realities: Indian Painted Photographs from the 1880s to the 1940s. This exhibition brings together 75 works from the ROM’s permanent collection, never before shown in public. Produced from the advent of photography in India in 1840, the focus of the exhibition are photographic portraits almost completely covered with paint as a way to enhance the subject. By combining the art of painting with the technique of photography, these artists created a distinctive genre of Indian visual culture. These works are a precursor to Bollywood showcards, as the concept of enhanced photographs and embellished realities complements the fantasy world created by Bollywood cinema. Embellished Realities will be on view in the H.H. Levy Gallery, Level 1, from May 28, 2011 to March 2012. Together with Bollywood Cinema Showcards, these two exhibitions present a 100-year survey of Indian visual culture related to the Indian photography and film industry.


Both exhibitions will be accompanied by catalogues, richly illustrated with essays by Deepali Dewan, Rajesh Devraj, Kajri Jain, and Olga Zotova. Catalogues will be available in the ROM Museum Store for $24.99.


A series of public events, lectures, and performances will accompany the exhibition. Details will be announced shortly.


About The ROM’s Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery
The ROM invites visitors to experience the beauty and diversity of the South Asian sub-continent. The Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery is Canada’s first and largest museum gallery devoted to this culture, with over 350 objects in nine thematically organized areas including religious objects and sculpture, decorative arts, arms and armour, miniature paintings and textiles spanning over 5,000 years.


About the Institute for Contemporary Culture
The Institute for Contemporary Culture is the Royal Ontario Museum’s window on contemporary societies around the globe. Playing a vital role within the historical museum, the ICC examines current cultural, social and political issues throughout the modern world in thought-provoking exhibitions of contemporary art, architecture and design that are presented in the Roloff Beny Gallery and other galleries of the Museum. In addition, a roster of public events such as lectures, film series, debates and performances further explore relevant themes addressed in ICC exhibitions, and serves as a catalyst for stimulating public conversations. The ROM’s extensive collections of world cultures and natural history through the ages add context, meaning and depth to these engaging discussions of contemporary ideas. More information at: click here


Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s a is organized by the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM in collaboration with the Hartwick Collection


Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s and Embellished Realities: Indian Painted Photographs from the 1880s to the 1940s have been made possible through funding provided by the Government of Ontario.