About
Preservation and study of the cultural history of India through photography and theatre archives; fostering cultural understanding across generations.
The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts is a charitable trust based in Greater Kailash-II, New Delhi, founded in 2006 by theatre director and arts patron Ebrahim Alkazi. It maintains two major collections: the Alkazi Collection of Photography (ACP), one of the world's largest private collections of 19th and early 20th-century photographs of the Indian subcontinent (90,000+ photographs, negatives, albums and documents), and the Alkazi Theatre Archives (ATA), an archive of post-independence Indian theatre materials initiated in 2016. The Foundation provides grants for photo books and theatre photography, publishes scholarly books, and collaborates with international institutions including Rencontres d'Arles (France), the Brunei Gallery at SOAS London, and Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland).
Ebrahim Alkazi (1925-2020) is considered the most important figure in post-independence Indian theatre. As director of the National School of Drama from 1962 to 1977, he transformed it into a genuinely national institution, developing classical Sanskrit drama, folk traditions, contemporary regional theatre, and Western drama within a unified pedagogical framework. The NSD Repertory Company he founded toured the country, building new theatrical awareness. His parallel contribution to visual arts included a landmark series of 13 exhibitions titled This is Modern Art in 1950s Mumbai, and his role as director of Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi, where he promoted artists including MF Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Akbar Padamsee. The photography collection began in the 1980s, sourced from Portobello Road markets and major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams. Housed in London and later in the Sepia International gallery in New York, it was brought to India in 2006 following post-9/11 anxieties, and the Foundation was formally established around the archive. The Alkazi Theatre Archives were initiated in 2016 to document the post-independence theatre history that Alkazi himself had shaped.
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Founding & Leadership
Ebrahim Alkazi (1925-2020) was India's foremost post-independence theatre director. He headed the National School of Drama from 1962 to 1977, building it into a nationally significant institution. He was also a patron of modern Indian art and an avid collector of historical photography.
Initiatives & Portfolio
90,000+ photographs, negatives, albums and documents from 19th and early 20th-century South Asia. Emphasises India, Myanmar, Afghanistan and other regions under British influence.
Post-independence Indian theatre archive initiated in 2016. Documentation of theatre history, periodicals, and performance records.
Annual grant for photographers documenting theatre in India.
Scholarly publications including Allegory & Illusion (2013), Raja Deen Dayal (2013), Paper Jewels (2018), Unveiling India (2015).
The Alkazi Foundation matters to India's cultural ecosystem on two distinct levels. Its photography archive is the most significant private repository of 19th and early 20th-century visual documentation of the subcontinent in India, filling a gap that no public institution has adequately addressed. Its theatre archive preserves the institutional memory of the most transformative period in Indian theatre history. Together they constitute an interdisciplinary cultural archive with no direct equivalent in India. The Foundation's grant programmes for theatre photography and photo books have supported a generation of practitioners working at the intersection of performance and documentation.
[Atlas Perspective] The Alkazi Foundation occupies a singular position in India's institutional landscape: founded by the person most responsible for shaping modern Indian theatre, it preserves both the visual history of the subcontinent and the documentary record of the theatrical revolution he led. Its significance is disproportionate to its size -- a research institution, not a programming organisation -- and its influence is felt through scholarship and publication rather than public events. CultureAtlas rates it as a high-importance institution for the performing arts and visual arts ecosystems, particularly for documentation and archival research.