Alkazi Collection of Photography Alkazi Foundation for the Arts

History and Founding

The Alkazi Collection of Photography (ACP) is a privately owned photographic archive housed at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts (AFA) in New Delhi. The collection was assembled over several decades by Ebrahim Alkazi (1925–2020), one of India's foremost post-independence theatre directors and patron of the arts. Beginning in the early 1980s, Alkazi began acquiring vintage photographs at London dealers, auction houses including Christie's and Sotheby's, and from private sources in India, driven by a desire to preserve documents of Indian history in a post-colonial era. The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, a registered charitable trust, was formally established in 2006 to house and manage the collection. The AFA building, located in Greater Kailash-II, New Delhi, is built on three levels and is dedicated to the preservation, study, and research of its holdings.

Collections and Holdings

At approximately 100,000 images, the ACP is considered India's largest archive of 19th- and early 20th-century photographs, and likely the largest private collection of South Asian photography in the world. The collection encompasses:

• Photographic albums, single albumen and gelatin silver prints, paper negatives, glass-plate negatives, painted photographs, and photo-postcards
• Images from India, Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Afghanistan, China, and Japan, dating primarily from the 1840s through Indian independence in 1947
• Works by prominent photographers including Dr. John Murray, Felice Beato, Linnaeus Tripe, Alexander Greenlaw, Samuel Bourne, John Edward Saché, and Raja Deen Dayal
• Subjects spanning archaeology, architectural history, the urban development of colonial cities, military history, Princely India, anthropological studies, and landscape photography
• The Homai Vyarawalla collection — over 5,000 medium-format negatives and 1,500 prints by India's first woman press photographer, dating from 1930 to 1960

The foundation also maintains the Alkazi Theatre Archives (ATA), a private collection of scripts, director's notes, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting Indian theatre history.

Journalism and Media Materials

The Homai Vyarawalla collection is of particular significance for the history of Indian press photography, documenting the work of a pioneering photojournalist active from the 1930s through the 1950s. The ACP's broader holdings include photographs originally commissioned for colonial-era newspapers, illustrated periodicals, and commercial studios, offering extensive visual documentation of colonial Indian public life.

Access and Usage

Access is by prior appointment. Researchers can specify their area of interest and the archive's staff will assist with the search. Low-resolution digital images can be requested for research purposes; publication rights must be obtained separately. A small reference library on Indian photography is available on site. Address: M-141, Greater Kailash Part II, New Delhi 110048, India.