Not currently on display at the V&A

Kodaikanal, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India

Photograph
1992 (made)
Artist/Maker
Stromberg, Gerhard (photographer)
Place of origin
India (made)

The photograph by Gerhard Stromberg (born Ludwigshafen/Rhein, Germany, 1952) was chosen for the collection as it is exemplary of the Germanic strand of contemporary architectural photography. Stromberg studied under the photographer Bernhard Becher in Dusseldorf before moving to England in 1986.

Kodaikanal is a town in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu state in south-eastern India. It is situated in the Palni Hills, at an elevation of 7,300 (2,225m) The town was created in 1845 by U.S. missionaries and British Civil Servants as a hill station to which administrative offices were located during the summer months. The immense detail of the photograph, with its' flattened perspective, emphasises the fusion of secular and religious buildings in India architecture.


Object details

Categories
Photographs
Access_to_Images 2003
Object type
Photograph
TitleKodaikanal, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
c-type colour print
Photographic Paper
Brief description
Stromberg, Gerhard. "Kodai Kanal, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. 1992". C-type colour print.
Physical description
Large photograph of hill side in the Madurai District of India. The photograph overlooks buildings of both secular and religious design. The photograph contains minute details of the hillside which makes up almost half of the image, with the cloud filled sky taking up the remainder.
Dimensions
  • Print height: 89cm
  • Print width: 113.3cm
Copy number
1 of 10
Gallery label
  • "D i a r y N o t e s My need to make pictures must be like a plant's need to produce flowers; but I also want the assiduousness of an accountant, and the trusting and enquiring mind of a scientist. Photography has the capacity to render everything with the same value. Photography is undiscriminating because it is thoughtless. The ground glass of my camera knows neither memories of the past, nor projections of the future." Gerhard Stromberg, 1992 / 1997(1992/1997)
  • Gerhard Stomberg studied under the influential photographers Bernhard and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Academy before moving to England in 1986. Stromberg utilizes grey skies and flattened perspective to create his personal and elegiac observation of landscape. Each finely observed detail is orchestrated within the frame like a musical composition. Here, an eclectic mixture of building types of various architectural styles share the hillside, offering visual clues to the location while making us question the sense of place.(2008-2009)
Object history
The photograph was produced by Gerhard Stromberg. This photograph is number one of ten in the edition run.

Historical significance: The photograph by Gerhard Stromberg was chosen for the collection as it is exemplary of the Germanic strand of contemporary architectural photography. Stromberg studied under the photographer Bernhard Becher in Dusseldorf before moving to England in 1986.
Historical context
This image exemplifies contemporary German architectural photography. The detail of the photograph with its' flattened perspective emphasises the fusion of secular and religious buildings in India architecture, which in turn creates a sense of an Indian cultural perspective.
Subject depicted
Houses
Place depicted
Tamil Nadu
Summary
The photograph by Gerhard Stromberg (born Ludwigshafen/Rhein, Germany, 1952) was chosen for the collection as it is exemplary of the Germanic strand of contemporary architectural photography. Stromberg studied under the photographer Bernhard Becher in Dusseldorf before moving to England in 1986.

Kodaikanal is a town in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu state in south-eastern India. It is situated in the Palni Hills, at an elevation of 7,300 (2,225m) The town was created in 1845 by U.S. missionaries and British Civil Servants as a hill station to which administrative offices were located during the summer months. The immense detail of the photograph, with its' flattened perspective, emphasises the fusion of secular and religious buildings in India architecture.
Bibliographic reference
Catalogue: Silver and Syrup: Selections from the History of Photography exhibition
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.492-1998

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Record createdAugust 27, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O83784/kodaikanal-madurai-district-tamil-nadu-photograph-stromberg-gerhard/
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