Portraits in Princely India, 1700-1947


Book Description

Since Independence, the princes and regional rulers of India have mostly been seen as anachronistic figures, too closely associated with the former colonial government, and often a byword for extravagance, sybaritic lifestyles, and mild despotism. When in 1967 they were stripped of their privy purses by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, there were more protests in Britain than in India. No serious efforts have been made to put these men, and a few women, in a pictorial context, to examine the differing styles of portraiture favoured by them, and the motives behind the pictures, until now. The more one gazes at these important but hitherto neglected works of art, the more questions are raised. This book attempts to answer and interpret some of them. The arrival of European painters in late 18th century India presented a new opportunity for Indian rulers to commission self-portraits of a different kind, and also to influence indigenous artists in new styles and paint mediums. The arrival of photography brought a further opportunity for them to be pictured in different ways.




Portraiture in South Asia since the Mughals


Book Description

One of the most remarkable artistic achievements of the Mughal Empire was the emergence in the early seventeenth century of portraits of identifiable individuals, unprecedented in both South Asia and the Islamic world. Appearing at a time of increasing contact between Europe and Asia, portraits from the reigns of the great Mughal emperor-patrons Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan are among the best-known paintings produced in South Asia. In the following centuries portraiture became more widespread in the visual culture of South Asia, especially in the rich and varied traditions of painting, but also in sculpture and later prints and photography. This collection seeks to understand the intended purpose of a range of portrait traditions in South Asia and how their style, setting and representation may have advanced a range of aesthetic, social and political functions. The chapters range across a wide historical period, exploring ideals of portraiture in Sanskrit and Persian literature, the emergence and political symbolism of Mughal portraiture, through to the paintings of the Rajput courts, sculpture in Tamil temples and the transformation of portraiture in colonial north India and post-independence Pakistan. This specially commissioned collection of studies from a strong list of established scholars and rising stars makes a significant contribution to South Asian history, art and visual culture.




Princely India and the British


Book Description

In the latter part of the nineteenth century,the royal status of Indian princes was under threat in what became a critical period of transition from traditional to imperial rule.Weakened by treaties concluded with the British earlier in the century,the rulers were subject to a concentrated campaign by British officials to turn palace life into a westernised construct of morality,rules and regulations.Young heirs to the throne were exposed to a western education to encourage their enthusiasm for changes in the princely environment.At the same time bureaucracies constructed on the British Indian model were introduced to promote'good government'.In many cases,royal practice and authority were sacrificed in the urgency to install efficient and accountable methods of administration.Adult rulers were frequently sidelined in the intricacies of state politics and the traditional princely power base was steadily eroded. Using the framework of a princely life-cycle,this book evaluates British policy towards the princes during the period 1858-1909. Within this framework Caroline Keen examines disputed successions to Indian thrones,the reaction of young rulers to a western education, princely marriages and the empowerment of royal women,the administration of states,and efforts to alter court hierarchy and ritual to conform to strict British bureaucratic guidelines.A recurring theme is the frequently incompatible relationship between British officials posted to the states and their superiors within the Government of India. Rarely examined archival material is used to provide a detailed analysis of policy-making which deals with British procedure at all levels of officialdom. For scholars and researchers of South Asian and British imperial history this book casts new light upon a highly significant phase of imperial development and makes a major contribution to the understanding of the operation of indirect rule under the Raj.




Portraying the Guru


Book Description

Brings to light the evolution of Sikh art from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Breaking fresh ground in the study of Sikh art, after the pioneering contributions of W.H. McLeod and B.N. Goswamy, this book on Sikh art evolution is centred on portraits of Sikh Gurus from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It examines around two hundred and fifty texts of art, of various mediums, scattered across museums and private collections the world over. Ikeda artfully proves how Guru Nanak's portraiture catered to the spiritual and cultural needs not only of ordinary Sikhs, but also satisfied the expectations of the newly formed urban middle class. Including critical review of Harjot Oberoi's study and emphasizing the significant role of Sikh art in the formation of a distinct Sikh community's identity, the author takes note of how the Singh Sabha Movement (1873-1909) and the Akali Movement of 1920 onwards popularized devotional portraits of Guru Nanak even though idolatry is forbidden in the sacred text Guru Granth Sahib. It underlines how there was a paradigm shift in the mentality of Sikh society under the colonial impact of the British Raj. This highly illustrated volume will not only be appreciated by students of visual arts, researchers and academics, but also by the universities across the world in which Sikh Studies are taught. Atsushi Ikeda, a historian of South Asian art, specialising in Sikh art and visual culture, holds an MFA from Kyoto City University of Arts, an M.Res. from Kyoto University and a doctorate from SOAS University of London. Having worked as an art director in a Japanese company, he currently serves as the Chief Director of the Japanese Organisation for the Promotion of Indian Art and Culture (JOPIAC).




Plague Image and Imagination from Medieval to Modern Times


Book Description

This edited collection brings together new research by world-leading historians and anthropologists to examine the interaction between images of plague in different temporal and spatial contexts, and the imagination of the disease from the Middle Ages to today. The chapters in this book illuminate to what extent the image of plague has not simply reflected, but also impacted the way in which the disease is experienced in different historical periods. The book asks what is the contribution of the entanglement between epidemic image and imagination to the persistence of plague as a category of human suffering across so many centuries, in spite of profound shifts in our medical understanding of the disease. What is it that makes plague such a visually charismatic subject? And why is the medical, religious and lay imagination of plague so consistently determined by the visual register? In answering these questions, this volume takes the study of plague images beyond its usual, art-historical framework, so as to examine them and their relation to the imagination of plague from medical, historical, visual anthropological, and postcolonial perspectives.




Royal Umbrellas of Stone: Memory, Politics, and Public Identity in Rajput Funerary Art


Book Description

In Royal Umbrellas of Stone: Memory, Politics, and Public Identity in Rajput Funerary Art, Melia Belli Bose provides the first analysis of Rajput chatrīs ("umbrellas"; cenotaphs) built between the sixteenth to early-twentieth centuries. New kings constructed chatrīs for their late fathers as statements of legitimacy. During periods of political upheaval patrons introduced new forms and decorations to respond to current events and evoke a particular past. Offering detailed analyses of individual cenotaphs and engaging with art historical and epigraphic evidence, as well as ethnography and ritual, this book locates the chatrīs within their original social, political, and religious milieux. It also compares the chatrīs to other Rajput arts to understand how arts of different media targeted specific audiences.




Minority Pasts


Book Description

Minority Pasts explores the diversity of the histories and identities of Muslims in Rampur-the last Muslim-ruled princely state in colonial United Provinces and a city that is pejoratively labelled as the centre of "Muslim votebank" politics in contemporary Uttar Pradesh. The book highlights the importance of locality and emotions in shaping Muslim identities, politics, and belonging in Rampur. The book shows that we need to move beyond such homogeneous categories of nation and region, in order to comprehend local dynamics that allow a better and closer understanding of the historical re-negotiations of politics and identities by Muslims in South Asia.




The Visual Turn


Book Description

The Visual Turn: South Asia Across the Disciplines explores new perspectives made possible by the evidence drawn from visual culture. This evidence is utilized by historians, literary analysts, anthropologists and, in a new way, art historians. Focusing on built environments within their urban contexts; the interactions of buildings, roads, and bodies; the meaning-making achieved through consumption of images (on their own or in concert with literary texts) all contribute to a much broader and deeper understanding of change in South Asia. Juxtaposed, these case studies not only approach their topics in a multi-disciplinary manner, but also make clear just what scholars from various disciplines can learn from each other to add nuance and depth to their own analyses. In the process, the authors demonstrate how the application of different methods and theorizing, when coupled with a fascinating range of types of evidence, contribute to a significant broadening of our abilities to interpret the past and the present. In particular, these essays bring new ways of thinking about cities as well as the multiple ways that visual culture contributes to individual and collective forms of identity-narratives that are negotiated at key moments of change in South Asia. Readers will see their own materials and historicized contexts with new eyes. This book was published as a special issue of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.




Kobieta, sztuka i kolonizacja. Wizerunki kobiet w strefie kontaktu indyjsko-brytyjskiego


Book Description

Książka dr Doroty Kamińskiej-Jones pomyślana została jako analiza wizerunków kobiet stworzonych w złożonej przestrzeni kontaktu indyjsko-brytyjskiego, jaki zachodził od początków wieku XVII do połowy XX w., ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem prac pochodzących z drugiej połowy XVIII w. i wieku XIX. […] Autorka łączy w rozprawie warsztat historyka sztuki z metodologiami stosowanymi w szeroko pojmowanych badaniach kulturowych, w tym przede wszystkim odwołując się do dyskursu postkolonialnego i feministyczno-genderowego. Prezentowane analizy zostały starannie osadzone we właściwym im kontekście historycznym i społeczno-kulturowym, dając wyraz pogłębionemu rozumieniu analizowanych przedstawień. […] Decyzja dotycząca wyboru takiej właśnie perspektywy badawczej okazała się jak najbardziej właściwa, pozwoliła bowiem na optymalną realizację zakładanych celów. Jej rezultatem jest niezwykle interesująca rozprawa o interdyscyplinarnym charakterze. Za pośrednictwem analizy wizerunków kobiet oferuje ona nowe spojrzenie na sztukę i kulturę indyjską oraz brytyjską okresu kolonialnego, odkrywając złożoną rolę kobiet w procesie kolonizacji. […] Stosownie ilustrowany tekst jako całość czyta się z wielkim zainteresowaniem, po prostu (!) jako dobrze napisaną książkę, co wcale nie jest regułą na polskim rynku wydawnictw naukowych. […] Cechuje ją wysokiej próby wartość naukowa, będąca rezultatem dużej wnikliwości i staranności Autorki w zgłębianiu badanego tematu, zarówno w zakresie dzieł sztuki, jak i bardzo obszernej literatury przedmiotu. Ma również nieocenioną wartość poznawczą, tak istotną w czasach zglobalizowanej, natężonej wymiany myśli i różnych form ludzkiej działalności, w tym właśnie sztuki, w warunkach, gdy nie tylko w naszej części świata nadal wyraźnie odczuwalny jest niedostatek wiedzy na temat kultur pozaeuropejskich w ogóle, a tradycji artystycznych w szczególności. Omawiana praca z całą pewnością będzie służyła wyrównaniu tych naukowych zaniedbań. Z recenzji prof. dr hab. Danuty Stasik




Terrestrial Lessons


Book Description

Prologue: Global itineraries, Earth inscriptions -- In pursuit of a global thing -- "As you live in the world, you ought to know something of the world"--The global pandit -- Down to Earth? Of girls and globes -- "It's called a globe. It is the Earth. Our Earth!" -- Epilogue: The conquest of the world as globe