Evening Ragas

British photographer Moore first visited India in 1976. Armed with letters of introduction, he made the acquaintance of many Indians of culture and aristocratic lineage--the very occupants of the elaborate, quite fantastic palaces and lavish homes that are his subjects in this album. In the late 1970s, more than a quarter of a century after Indian independence, these homes, which in postcolonial society are relics of the past, already showed the ravages of time and neglect, and Moore sensed their days were numbered. With his sophisticated eye to guide him, he trained his camera on their charms and excesses, and sometimes on the occupants, and he gives us 102 black-and-white images of the most curious and unbelievable splendor, however degraded. The blending of British and Indian aesthetics resulted in a style of building that would look bizarre anywhere else but is somehow the very essence of India. Though not a groundbreaking photographic stylist, Moore makes photographs beautifully, and the book should prove most attractive to those interested in architecture or in Indian culture. Gretchen Garner