Archive · 18 Dec 2025
Digitizing India's Bazaar Art: Priya Paul's Collection
A long time ago, a woman named Priya Paul started collecting old pictures and posters from India.
She found these in small shops and markets, especially in Delhi and Rajasthan.
These pictures showed many things like gods, movie stars, and advertisements for soap and tea.
She wanted to save these pictures because they were old and could get damaged.
So, she worked with a group of scholars to put all these pictures online so everyone can see them.
Now, you can look at these pictures on a website and learn about how people in India lived a long time ago.
The pictures show a mix of Indian and Western styles, and they tell stories about the culture and history of that time.
Priya Paul thinks it's important to save these pictures because they are part of India's history and culture.
Priya Paul collected over 4,200 images of Indian popular culture from the late 19th and early 20th century, including posters, calendars, postcards, advertisements, textile labels, and cinema posters.
The collection was digitized in 2008 by Tasveer Ghar and is hosted on the Heidelberg University’s heidICON image database, making it freely accessible to the public.
The artifacts reflect a blend of Eastern and Western styles, showcasing the cultural and social history of India during the late 19th and early 20th century.
The digitization process involved careful handling, scanning, and digital restoration of the images, with metadata created to describe and categorize them.
The collection is valued for its historical significance and provides insights into the everyday life, art, and communication methods of that era.
- Who
- Priya Paul, a Delhi-based collector and chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, along with Tasveer Ghar, a network of collectors and scholars.
- What
- A digitized collection of over 4,200 images of Indian popular culture from the late 19th and early 20th century, including posters, calendars, postcards, advertisements, textile labels, and cinema posters.
- When
- The collection was digitized in 2008 and made freely accessible to the public.
- Where
- The artifacts were initially found in Delhi and Rajasthan, and the digitized collection is hosted on the Heidelberg University’s heidICON image database.
- Why
- To preserve and make accessible a significant collection of popular visual artifacts that reflect the cultural, social, and historical aspects of India during the late 19th and early 20th century.
- Collection Name
- Priya Paul Collection of Popular Art
- Number of Images
- Over 4,200
- Time Period Covered
- Late 19th and early 20th century
- Types of Artifacts
- Posters, calendars, postcards, advertisements, textile labels, cinema posters
- Digitization Platform
- Heidelberg University’s heidICON image database
- Digitization Year
- 2008
- Collection Owner
- Priya Paul
- Database Languages
- German and English