Prabuddha Dasgupta (21 September 1956 – 12 August 2012) was a noted fashion photographer from India. Known for his iconic black and white imagery, he had an extended career, primarily as a fashion photographer, spanning more than 3 decades. Prabuddha Dasgupta was self-taught and grew up in the cultural chaos of post-colonial India. The biggest contribution attributed to the legend is of elevating fashion photography in India to the level of an artform.
In 1996, Prabuddha Dasgupta broke a taboo by publishing ‘Women’ (Viking Books), a controversial collection of portraits and nudes of urban Indian women. With that gesture, he reinstated the nude to its rightful place in the Indian cultural discourse; after 200 years of Victorian morality imposed by the British colonialists had almost erased sexuality from artistic expression… in the very home of the Kamasutra.
In the decade that followed, Dasgupta pursued a variety of photographic projects, while unapologetically straddling the two worlds of commissioned and artistic work, bringing to both, a bold, individualistic sensibility that very quickly placed him in the ranks of major photographic talent in the country.
Dasgupta’s work has been exhibited internationally, both in solo and group shows, and published in Indian, French, English, Italian and American magazines. His second book ‘Ladakh’ (Viking Books), a personal exploration of India’s frontier wilderness was published in 2000 and his work is included in many books publications including ‘Nudi’ (Motta Editore, Milan) and ‘India Now – New Photographic Visions’ (Textuel, Paris). He was also the recipient of many grants and awards, including the Yves Saint Laurent grant for photography in1991, and his work is in the collections of many individuals and institutions, like the Museo Ken Damy, Brescia, Italy, and Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy. In 2009 Dasgupta’s third book “Edge of Faith” was published by Seagull Books.
VSUAL pays a tribute to the legend with a few images from his brilliant collection.
All images © Prabuddha Dasgupta and respective publications.
You can offer your tribute in comments below.
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