No ruler represents the comingling of European and Indian culture in the 1930s as the Maharaja of Indore, Yeshwant Rao Holkar II. Born in India in 1908, he was educated in England, as was his future wife. With a great passion for Western culture, they spent most of their time in Europe, returning to India with great treasures they purchased, such as art and jewelry, as well as new design ideas.
They were famously photographed by Man Ray in Paris and Cannes. Recalling the event in his autobiography, he states: ‘The Maharaja of Indore came to the studio to be photographed, also in Western clothes – sack suits and formal evening dress. He was young, tall and very elegant. I got a substantial order from this sitting.… Next year, the Maharaja was in the South of France with his young bride. He had taken an entire floor of a hotel in Cannes for himself and his retinue. I arrived in Cannes before noon, was assigned to my room in the suite…The Maharanee was an exquisite girl in her teens. She wore French clothes, and a huge emerald ring. The Maharaja had bought it for her that morning while taking a walk.…’