Walter Langhammer

Painter, caricaturist, graphic designer, art theorist, art educator. Armed with these skills, Walter Langhammer went into exile in India with his Jewish wife, Käthe Urbach, in the fall of 1938.

Born in Graz, Langhammer worked as art director for the *Times of India* and was one of the most respected painters in Bombay. He was also involved in the establishment of the Jehangir Art Gallery and, together with his wife and friends, maintained an important art circle that supported young, impoverished, experimental, and avant-garde Indian artists. The best-known among them formed the “Progressive Artists’ Group,” which included the now world-famous painters Souza, Hussain, and Raza.

However, the exhibition reveals a previously unknown side of Walter Langhammer—the photographer. Together with his wife Käthe, he traveled throughout India between 1946 and 1956, documenting the kaleidoscope of the new, young nation.