Waddell’s ‘A Yank’s Memory of Calcutta’

‘A Yank’s Memory of Calcutta’, an exhibition of 60 gelatin photographs of Calcutta by Clyde Wadell is being hosted by the Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata from 8 December’2014 -24 January’2015.

Waddell’s photographs capture the eccentricities Kolkata in the early twentieth century. Away from the general tendency of artists, authors and litterateurs to slot Kolkata as a city straddling either of the two extremes of civilization – poverty or riches, cultural richness or defunct abject human condition, Waddell’s photographs give a sneek peek into the city living between these binaries. This uniqueness of his art, makes Wendell perhaps the only artist who has captured the essence of Kolkata so well.

Waddell was a Chief Photographer for the Huston Press before entering the army. He worked in the India-Burma Theater during the World War II as a part of the south east Asian front of the allied forces. In November 1943, Waddell was attached to the Public Relations Staff of the Southeast Asia Command. He served the Supreme Commander Admiral Lord Luis Mountbatten as his personal press photographer. Beginning in Ceylon, between 1943 till February 1945, Waddell accompanied Mountbatten throughout Southeast Asia visting many battle-fronts, hospital stations, and other war-afflicted areas.

In February 1945, Phoenix Magazine was formed. This was a 24 page weekly picture magazine, sponsored by the combined U.S. – British command. Waddell took leave of Mountbatten and resumed his life as a news photographer. Waddell was granted a leave after his return from the Singapore operation. In want to any assignment during that time, Clyde began clicking pictures of the erstwhile Calcutta. He ventured into some of the remotest, out-of-bound areas of Kolkata (and even on top of Calcutta’s Howrah Bridge) to click pictures. By the end of this passionate break from work, Waddell was flooded with requests from America and Britain for copies of his photographs.

The photographs at Aakriti reveal the responses of Clyde Waddell to a city experiencing a historic clash of civilizations – the east and the west. The poignant gaze of a western male on a city ravaged and plundered by the colonial exploits of Europe does not escape the ideological moorings of the images and scenes Waddell captures.

The album carries an introduction by N. Chas Preston and was dedicated to the GI agents.

Aakriti hosts the exhibition from 11 am-7pm.