What first struck me about this postcard was the uncommon use of muted primary colours; red, yellow and blue! Then that the seated girl wears a two piece mundu, cool white with narrow trim, the traditional style of Kerala. I was surprised by the choice of saree-clad women to advertise Italian ”bark and iron wine” tonic, but it was sold around the world by this time, about the 1920s or ’30s.
Very nice.
I concur, just how did this simple rendering of village life in the sub-continent become the centerpiece of an ad campaign for an Italian wine? Somehow I would expect a silk and pearl draped rajkumari, or a slinky, undulating nautch girl instead of four modestly saree clad women sharing a quiet moment under the Hindustani sun. Hmmmm.
And nary a sign of an elephant, monkey, or the Taj Mahal in sight, all of the stereotypical tropes generally associated with “exotic India.”
But one detail puzzles me a bit: Is this a super-realist painting, or a tinted photo? I thought the latter, but you never know.
Either way, a lovely image.
A photograph, but I can’t tell if it is very fine hand-tinting work or an early colour photograph. The printing processes were also changing then, so without seeing the original it is difficult to be certain – and upon further reflection, this could easily be from the 1940s. The wine company used other odd images for their promotional postcards, so this isn’t just one aberrant example. It makes me want to put on my sole Kerala mundu set!
Accha! You speak wisdom!
It just dawned on me after reading your feedback that this image does indeed look a lot like an early color photograph, possessing that painterly quality. I believe you hit the proverbial nail on the head.