Hall of Nations, 1972
Architect: Raj Rewal
New Delhi Municipal Council building/Palika Centre, 1983
Architect: Kuldip Singh
Shriram Centre, 1968
Architect: Shiv Nath Prasad
Madan Mahatta (Mehta) was born in Srinagar, Kashmir and studied photography in England in the early 1950s. He joined the family’s Delhi photo studio upon returning to India in 1954 and introduced negative-positive colour printing for the first time. The Mahatta studios have a distinguished history as one of the pre-eminent family-run studios in North India. A prolific photographer, Mahatta worked across all genres—portraiture, dance, theatre as well as industrial and architectural photography. He combined a sensitive eye with an extraordinary sense of light and space—all of which made him the finest architectural photographer of his generation.
Mahatta’s exhibition of architectural photographs, Delhi Modern (1950s–1980s) curated by Ram Rahman were exhibited for the first time at PHOTOINK in 2012 to wide acclaim. The exhibition was a remarkable record of the building of New Delhi at the height of Nehruvian modernism. Mahatta had worked closely with two generations of India’s modern architects including Achyut Kanvinde, Ajoy Choudhury, Charles Correa, Habib Rahman, Jasbir Sawhney, J. K. Chowdhury, Joseph Allen Stein, Kuldip Singh, Raj Rewal, Ram Sharma, Ranjit Sabhiki, Shiv Nath Prasad and designers Mini Boga and Riten Mozumdar. His photographs of their works are an equal part of the legacy of a great period in Indian modernism.
Photographs from Delhi Modern have been included in numerous exhibitions, notably, Illuminating India: Photography 1857-2017, curated by Kate Bush at Media Space at the Science Museum, National Media Museum, London (2017-2018), Stretched Terrains curated by Roobina Karode at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2017), Urban Landscapes – Indian case studies curated by Deepak Ananth at The British School, Rome (2012), The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985, Museum of Modern Art, New York(2022).
Mahatta’s works are widely collected and reside in prominent public collections such as the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, (New Delhi, India), M+ Museum (Hong Kong, China), Pier 24 (San Francisco, USA) and the Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis, USA).
Gandhi Memorial Hall (formerly Pyare Lal Bhawan), 1962
Architect: Kavinde & Rai
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Staircase of a teaching block with the main building in the background, IIT-Delhi, 1968
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Open Air Theatre, Student Activity Centre, IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
View along the corridor of a teaching block, IIT-Delhi, c.1968
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)
Engineering Block through the connecting passage, IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
External staircase to Seminar Hall (Administrative Block), IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm
Lecture theatre (detail), IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm
Kailash Hostel: interior staircase, IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm
Student Activity Centre: ground floor, IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Architect: J.K. Chowdhury
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Shriram Centre, 1968
Architect: Shiv Nath Prasad
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)
Aerial view of the Central Secretariat, 1972
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
View of South Block, 1955
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
View of South Block and North Block, 1955
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 12 in / 30.5 × 30.5 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 22 in / 55.9 × 55.9 cm (Ed of 6)
Parliament, 1955
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 12 in / 30.5 × 30.5 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 22 in / 55.9 × 55.9 cm (Ed of 6)
India Gate, 1953
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 12 in / 30.5 × 30.5 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 22 in / 55.9 × 55.9 cm (Ed of 6)
Connaught Place, 1948
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
Connaught Place, 1983
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 12 in / 30.5 × 30.5 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 22 in / 55.9 × 55.9 cm (Ed of 6)
Aerial view of Jantar Mantar, 1984
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 12 in / 30.5 × 30.5 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 22 in / 55.9 × 55.9 cm (Ed of 6)
Western Court, Janpath, 1970
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
Aerial view of Qutab Minar, 1972
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
Red Fort, 1981
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
Jama Masjid, 1969
Pigment print
2 sizes available
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm (Ed of 4)
22 × 33 in / 55.9 × 83.8 cm (Ed of 6)
Main gate: entrance to campus from Outer Ring Road, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 12.5 in / 25.4 × 31.75 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 25 in / 50.8 × 63.5 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 37.5 in / 76.2 × 95.25 cm (Ed of 3)
Institute Main Building: east facade, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Institute Main Building (west facade) with Engineering Block on left, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Engineering Block through the connecting passage, IIT-Delhi, c.1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Lecture theatre, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Lecture theatre from Engineering Block, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)
Engineering Block corridor, Institute Main Building in the background, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)
Administrative Block with reflecting pool in foreground, c. 1967
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 15 in / 25.4 × 38.1 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 30 in / 50.8 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 45 in / 76.2 × 114.3 cm (Ed of 3)
Lecture theatre (detail), c. 1967
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm
Kailash Hostel: interior staircase, c. 1967
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm
Goodyear, Ballabhgarh, Faridabad, 1972
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Modi Steel, Modinagar, Ghaziabad, 1979
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Modipon, Modinagar, Ghaziabad, 1979
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Ballarpur Industries Ltd, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, 1975
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm)
30 × 45 in (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
Ballarpur Industries Ltd, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, 1975
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm)
30 × 45 in (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
Ballarpur Industries Ltd, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, 1976
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm)
30 × 45 in (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
Ballarpur Industries Ltd, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, 1976
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm)
30 × 45 in (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
MMTC Ltd, Bellary Hospet, Karnataka, 1976
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
MMTC Ltd, Reddi, Chhattisgarh, 1976
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Escorts factory, Faridabad, Haryana, 1978
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm)
30 × 45 in (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
MMTC Ltd, Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, 1974
Pigment print
2 sizes available within Ed of 10
20 × 20 in (50.8 × 50.8 cm)
30 × 30 in (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Models, I
Pigment prints
(set of 36 photographs)
Each photograph is 7 × 10.5 in (17.7 × 26.6 cm)
Ed of 10
Models, II
Pigment prints
(set of 30 photographs)
Each photograph is 10 × 12 in (25.4 × 30.5 cm)
Ed of 10
Untitled
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)
Untitled
Pigment print
3 sizes available
10 × 10 in / 25.4 × 25.4 cm (Ed of 2)
20 × 20 in / 50.8 × 50.8 cm (Ed of 5)
30 × 30 in / 76.2 × 76.2 cm (Ed of 3)