The Chowk

John Murray

1856–57 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

Murray's view of the principal street in Agra manages to convey the heat of the day and the local activity through the deep shadow and the blurred pedestrians, whose passage reads like dust accumulated during the long exposure. With ground-floor shops shaded from the sun and second-story loggias open to the air, the buildings-each different in size, scale, and decoration-shoulder each other and jostle for space like so many individuals in the stream of people shimmering below.

Artist

John Murray

Date

1856–57

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005