A journey through history via vintage magazine covers

Lucknow: An exhibition, ‘Dastavez 2 — The Fragrance of Yesterday', featuring covers of magazines published in India and abroad, catching glimpses of major global and national figures and events from 1925 to 2023 started at Kala Strot Art Gallery on Sunday.The exhibition, which will remain open to the public from 2pm to 8pm till March 11, has exhibits collected by three generations of Usmani family.
"Though we have more than 1,000 covers of prominent magazines, I have put on display 74 in the exhibition," said IRS officer and archivist Suboor Usmani, who inherited the passion of collecting magazine covers and newspapers from his father and grandfather. The first exhibition, Dastavez 1', was on newspapers.Suboor's grandfather, Syed-Ul Hasan Usmani, started the journey in 1925. He collected major magazines covers of his times. The legacy was carried forward by Suboor's father Wajeeh Usmani.The magazine covers include global events including the coronation of King George V published by ‘The Illustrated Weekly' in 1937, photographs of moon landing by Neil Armstrong in ‘Life' in Aug 1969, and 100 most influential minds of the century, including Albert Einstein, published by ‘Time' in Mar 29, 1999.The exhibition also has magazine covers featuring national icons like Munshi Premchand.The cover of The Times of India annual publication, 1950, covering cultural, social, and political highlights of the era is also on display, besides cover page of the Time magazine (Jan 28, 1966) featuring Indira Gandhi.The exhibition also has cover page of the Lucknow City Magazine (Nov 1989) with illustrations showing launch of the 1989 Lok Sabha election battle.