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Liberty & Co. Display, November 1885
Display of a living Indian village to promote Liberty's Indian products
Place of event
Albert Palace, Battersea Park, London
About
In November 1885 Arthur Lasenby Liberty, owner of Liberty & Co., a department store in London, brought forty-two villagers from India to stage a living village of Indian artisans. Liberty & Co. specialized in 'Oriental' goods, in particular imported Indian silks, and the aim of the display was to generate both publicity and sales for the store. However, it was a disaster commercially and publicly, with concern about the way the villagers were put on display.
Arthur Lasenby Liberty
Mathur, Saloni, India by Design: Colonial History and Cultural Display (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007)
Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
