This is the first exhibition to focus on photographs and negatives in the Ashmolean, and as such features previously unseen photographs of India by Colonel Eugene Clutterbuck Impey (1830–1904). A member of the East India Company, Impey arrived in India in 1851 and took part in military actions during the Indian Uprising of 1857. After the British Crown took control in 1858 following the Uprising, he worked as a political agent until returning to Britain in 1878. He was a member of the Amateur Photographic Association and exhibited his photography at the time.
Impey’s photographs reflect British imperial interests, showcasing portraits of colonial officers and Indians, as well as staged scenes of daily life, clothing, religious sites, animals, and landscapes. These images often reinforced stereotypes with the aim to justify colonial efforts. Photography, which gained popularity after its debut in 1839, was used to highlight cultural differences. From the mid-1800s British officials documented various social groups in India, often categorising people by ethnicity.
The Impey collection includes 247 glass negatives preserved at the Ashmolean.
A book of the exhibition by Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Keeper of the Eastern Art Department in the Ashmolean Museum, and priced at £25 is also available. The publication presents a discussion of colonial India, as seen in the 19th century photographs of Colonel Eugene Clutterbuck Impey, a British soldier and administrator who was a member of the East India Company. Offering sight into the past and highlighting the political purposes of ethnographic photography in the context of the British Empire.
Except for three brief articles, published between the 1980s and 1990s, this will be the first book length publication to consider Impey’s images of 19th century India. In the 19th century, photography and colonial ethnography were tools of British governance on the subcontinent. Colonial officers were asked to submit photographs on various subjects across India. Images of people, place and space was seen as useful surveillance documentation to observe, understand and control native communities. Eugene Clutterbuck Impey (1830-1904) arrived in India in 1851 and lived there until his retirement in 1878. He served as political agent at different posts across the country. The Eastern Art archives include over 250 negatives and photographs of Impey’s images of people, architectural sites, and landscapes.
Contributors to this publication are Marwa Ahmed, Geoffrey Batchen, Radhica Ganapathy, Julia A. B. Hegewald, Aparna Kumar, Dane Kennedy, Nayanika Mathur, Tim Pearse, Chaitanya Sambrani, Giles Tillotson.
Colonial views of India. Photographs by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey
Until 13 December 2026
Free, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colonial-views-of-india-impey-photographs
Image: Seated girl, 1858-1865.
