India’s first lithography presses, founded in the late nineteenth century, were devoted to printing images of Hindu gods and goddesses. These early lithographs were printed from limestone blocks with images hand-drawn on as many blocks as there were colors to be printed. The stones, each inked in one color, were then printed in succession. By the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s this technique was replaced by the faster and cheaper photo-offset process. 

In India today one sees god prints everywhere, in tiny tea stands, on taxi dashboards, tied to the handle bars of rickshaws and bicycles, nailed to tree shrines, as well as in all Hindu shops and homes. These are not just images of gods, they are gods! During puja (worship) the gods are invited to descend into their printed images and are treated as guests. Offerings of fruit, flowers, and sweets are placed before them, prayers are chanted to them, incense burned for them, and garlands of marigolds are hung around their frames.

In almost every Indian shop you can see a Lakshmi hanging above the cash register (the goddess of beauty, prosperity and luck), her open hand with palm toward us and downward pointing fingers shows she’s ready to bestow a blessing. Always with a garland of flowers around her frame and a dot of sandalwood paste and kumkum (vermilion) on her forehead, placed between her eyes with a finger of the right hand, at the point of the sixth chakra, the third eye, the point at which we open spiritually to the Divine. Devotees place this tilak (mark) on the glass as a reminder of darshan, the moment during puja when their eyes and Lakshmi’s met (when we first started collecting we always felt a little bad un-framing prints with tilaks on the glass).

Early prints in good condition are extremely rare. The tradition in India is to frame prints so they are pressed flush against the glass (this is very bad because paper absorbs humidity and needs an air space to dry), so prints which have been framed for 80, 90, 100 years, having gone through as many monsoons (with months of 100% humidity), generally have very rippled paper, brown water stains, darkened varnish, patches of white mold, and areas stuck to the glass. Framers routinely trimmed the borders off prints and sometimes glued them down to boards (and still do).  Many hung on bright sunny walls for years and are now extremely faded.  Holes where paper was eaten by bugs and worms are common, etc.

Through years of hard work we have formed a large collection of early prints, collected in villages throughout South India (primarily in Tamil Nadu but also in Kerala and Karnataka), Rajasthan (especially in rural northern villages), as well as in the cities of Kolkata (Calcutta), Delhi, and Mumbai (Bombay). We are very proud to have formed one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of important 19th and early 20th century Hindu mythological prints. 

We welcome all inquiries. Whether you’re interested in buying prints, or would just like to see prints from our personal collection, please email or give us a call.

Wishing you all the best,
Mark Baron & Elise Boisanté