‘Art has no religion or cast, it transcends all barriers’. Hindustan(then) has had multiple foreign powers ruling that have left behind their artistic and cultural heritage. In this regard, the Mughals from Persia established their reign in Central and North-Western part of India in late 1300 A.D. The prolific artistic construction in terms of architecture, […]
Month: June 2013
Contributors
Aparna Roy Baliga teaches Art History at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. Sushma Sabnis is a writer and artist based in Mumbai. H.A. Anil Kumar is an Art Historian, Art critic and lecturer at Chitrakala Parishath University in Bangalore. Bhoo mika Jain is a musician and art writer based in Delhi. Yasra Dau d Khoker is […]
Cover Story
Contextualising the self in multiple traditions –a discussion on the paintings by Poushali Das Aparna Roy Baliga Poushali doesn’t only uses the traditional language but even the medium of tempera.She uses wash technique to get the subtleness required for her image making .Textile becomes a part of her narration. She explores the richness of textile, […]
Cover Story
Bringing a Macro World into Microcosmic Narratives Sushma Sabnis The breaking down of a system, blindly followed, led by an un-adaptable truth – a single truth or plural truths, depending upon the addressed issues, the choice of right versus wrong and right versus right, all surface and question the viewer in ‘Wars of the Relics.’ […]
Essay
Miniatures: Appearances invisible to Sight H.A.Anil Kumar The innumerable flora, fauna and animals that were painted, were like the genre of still life: the commissioner thought that making an album of animals that he/she possess is one way of revealing his/her lordship to the world, while the miniaturist was already skilled in making it his […]
Feature
The prior substantiating the current: miniature Bhoomika Jain Anindita’s Bhattacharya’s works are a personal interpretation of a collective experience woven in and around the traditional consort of miniature paintings. Having lived and studied in Baroda and witnessing the perpetual communal tension in the state, she was drawn to explore Mughal history as an attempt towards […]
Feature
God is in the details: Tradition of the Islamic Arts Yasra Daud With the crowning of Akbar as emperor, the art of manuscript illustration began accommodating regional influences along with Persian technicality. Abd as –Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali were appointed master painters and they trained Mughal court painters in the Safavid tradition. Akbar is […]
Obituary
Art & Deal – Correspomdent K. Bikram Singh The reign of Jahangir and Shah Jahan are known for a number of innovations in the arts. For instance, female portraiture was unheard of, before Jahangir assigned court painters the task of painting his queen, Noor Jehan. Painters began detailing facial features intricately and the art of […]
Report
The Modern Miniature : A Global Collaboration? Sandhya Bordewekar In late 2009, she returned to India to work on a complex collaborative project with Ajay Sharma. In such a situation, it was already clear that both artists came from tremendously different socio-economic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds and genealogies. There was certainly very little in common […]
History
Mughal miniature : The Visual Language of Contemporary Art Now, two important changes occurred in the history of Persia. On the political level the Safavid dynasty replaced the Turkomans, and took over Herat from Uzbeks. As a result under the guidance of Shah Ismail Safavid, a great patron of art, the two strands that is […]
International
FAYEZ BARAKAT : Private Passions Rajesh Punj Pressing an association with the fore-fathers of modern painting, French impressionist Claude Monet, American Mark Rothko, Spaniard Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, among others; Barakat recalls these leading protagonists of modern painting as his contemporaries; men with a vision for painting that was […]
Photo Essay
The Miniature as Photo Backdrop Waswo X. Waswo’s Painted backdrops have been essential to my work over the past six years. Generally painted on linen, but also at times on canvas, they are created by a large number of craftsmen working in teams. Following my basic instructions, different lead artists direct their apprentice painters. Thus […]
Art For The Young
Ramachandran’s books for children: A Belated Homecoming Siddharth Sivakumar Speaking about the future of illustrated children’s books in India, some years back, Ramachandran had said, “To discuss the future of children’s picture books in the Indian context is like discussing the future of an unborn child”. But the initiative taken by the Vadehra Art Gallery […]
Book Review
ART reinterprets ART Sudha Punshi I found this book a great inspiration for creating and motivating thought, especially on two fronts i.e. the contemporary art scene and the future for art as the author sees it. The chapter on Indian art ‘Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’ is very insightful and enlightening. It provides a new vista of […]
Review
HAIL (KOCHI) Tanya Abraham Madhu V by using the Chinese moth [its struggles of transforming itself into a moth from a silk worm; that death is the next phase of life and not the end of life] as a metaphor links nature, the universe and personal existence together, and explicates the dilemma and the possibilities […]
Review
Cricket and Art Archana Bahl Sapra The project, a marriage between sport and art- both creative in their own different ways has been quite a unique collaboration. Artists here have played games with their emotions, dreams, fears and experiences while giving expression to their thoughts and concerns. Artists and players representing different schools of art […]