In 2019 Ali Kazim, one of the most exciting contemporary artists working in Pakistan today, became the first South Asian artist-in-residence at the Ashmolean Museum. Drawing inspiration from the objects in the Eastern Art collections, and their contextual history, he saw his time in the Museum as an opportunity to reimagine the objects in his own work and practise. Thus, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue will focus mainly on Kazim’s engagement with the Ashmolean collections and the works created between 2019 and 2021. Widely exhibited and collected internationally (including the British Museum, V&A, Metropolitan Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, etc.), Kazim lives and works in Pakistan. The exhibition and book provide the Museum an opportunity to engage wider diverse audiences, while also presenting the works of a contemporary multidisciplinary artist who reflects and draws strength from the Ashmolean collections.
Richly designed with beautiful images and illustrations, this edition, published in collaboration with INTACH Kashmir Chapter, is a celebration of architectural ornamentation in shrines and mosques of one of the most beautiful regions of India. The book is also a study to understand the Islamic architecture in the era of continuity and change.
It began with a new camera, a retirement present from the author’s wife. The Kameng area in Arunachal Pradesh, familiar to the author’s family for over six decades, and the Monpa people provided the perfect subjects to indulge his interest in photography. Over time, the idea of a book firmed up, and the photographs coalesced into what was envisioned as a sensitive, not necessarily comprehensive, look at the Monpa way of life and their land, Monyul. The intent was not to be ethnographic or academic, but to portray the rapidly changing world of the Monpas. A meditative travelog in images that transforms into a thoughtful exploration, the book captures the lives of the people and the region. The author’s personal stories, interspersed throughout the book, tell of the Monpas’ hospitality and warmth, providing insight into the everyday lives of a spiritual community.
The father of fiber optics, Narinder Singh Kapany was far more than your typical multi-hyphenate. Inventor, art collector, sculptor, farmer, entrepreneur, teacher, and a successful businessman, Dr Kapany was what Fortune magazine in its 1999 issue called, ‘one of the seven unsung heroes of the 20th century’. An insightful and inspirational life story, this memoir chronicles his 90 remarkable years. Charming, idiosyncratic, and highly engaging, The Man who Bent Light serves up enough variety and verve to celebrate the lives of a half-dozen individuals. But there is only one Narinder Singh Kapany, and his life, illuminated in his singular memoir, is a life like no other.
The Kedara Kalpa is a relatively little-known Shaiva text; and only slightly better known than it are the two dispersed series of paintings to which this study is devoted. But both raise questions that are at once elegant and deeply engaging. Ostensibly, they treat of a journey by five seekers who set out to reach the realm of the great god, Shiva – walking barefoot through icy mountains and deep ravines, frozen rivers and moon-like rocks, running on the way into temptations and dangers the like of which no man before them had encountered – and, in the end, succeed. But as one goes through the narrative, the text visualised with brilliance sometimes by members of a talented family of Pahari painters, one begins to wonder. Is this a parable of sorts? Or the description of a long, unending dream from which one never wakes? Or, one wakes up like those five seekers and then, at the very next moment, slips back into that real / unreal world again? Is there something that hides behind all that one sees? Is this journey real, or is it only in the mind?
It is for each reader to decide, the authors appear to say.
Masterpieces at the Jaipur Court is the sixth in a new series of books initiated by the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace, Jaipur. Written by leading specialists, they are designed to be accessible and attractive for a new generation of readers and researchers. Each of the other volumes covers one aspect of the collections. But the need was felt for something handier, which would showcase the highlights of the collection as a whole. This selection features some of the most exquisite images, artefacts, paintings, monuments and historical treasures of the Jaipur Court.
Over the years, it has been an honor for the Museum Trust to welcome a variety of visiting scholars from India and abroad. The editors are pleased and grateful that some three dozen visiting scholars readily contributed two-thirds of the entries in this volume, making this a celebration of collaboration, in addition to a tribute to the Museum’s collections.
The contributors were asked to pick their favorite object from among those they had worked on recently, so that readers perceive a diversity of voices and views. Apart from this, current and recent members of the curatorial team have contributed entries, to complete the selection of the Museum’s finest objects across all categories, and all historical periods.
Scenography is the art of ‘writing the stage space’ — a visual journey of unmaking and remaking the text on a theatre space, a language of the spectatorial senses. However, this dialect of space and props, though prevalent in the West from the early days of the Greek plays, unfortunately has never been groomed and appropriated in the long theatre tradition of the Orient — until a bunch of new practitioners and scholars decided to explore the field of design and change the narrative of space in recent times. Yet with hardly any documentation available in the backdrop of indigenous theatre, there was a need of a practical treatise for quite a long time.
Scenography: An Indian Perspective unearths this astonishing yet silent contribution of ‘stage’ design in Indian theaters throughout the ages and the comparatively recent appropriation of it.
Architecture Asia, as the official journal of the Architects Regional Council Asia, aims to provide a forum, not only for presenting Asian phenomena and their characteristics to the world, but also for understanding diversity and multiculturalism within Asia from a global perspective.
This issue focuses on how cultural identity and social responsibility can be embodied within architecture and space design, and features three essays and eleven projects that elaborate on this topic. Each essay discusses the social situation in Australia, Malaysia, and India, respectively, as the eleven projects, accompanied with full-color photos and text descriptions, highlight architectural works that include a community center, nursery, hostel block, and cultural museum, among others, to reveal how through these buildings cultural identity is strengthened, or social responsibility is extended.
The work of Esther Brinkmann is characterized by the meaning she bestows on the ring, its relationship to the hand and, perhaps most surprisingly, to its case. The Swiss artist prefers processed and textured materials, which now also include new component forms, techniques, and substances since her time living in China and India.
She established a further education training program in jewelry design — a unique undertaking in Switzerland — at the Haute École d’Art et de Design (HEAD) in Geneva. Here, her knowledge and autonomy in her work have already shaped several other artistic careers.
This publication presents Esther Brinkman’s oeuvre from the past 30 years and highlights for the first time the remarkable strength and the freedom that distinguish the artist’s rich career.
Text in English and French.
Pushtimarg, a Vaishnava sect founded by Vallabhacharya in the 15th century, lays great stress on worship of the deity Shrinathji through the joys of life and living and devotion through kirtan (devotional poem-songs), bhog (offerings of sumptuous food and beverages), shringara (offerings of adornment, through dressing and ornamentation), and decoration and painting. The paintings constitute the Nathdwara school, so named because the image of Shrinathji is enshrined in a temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.
Shringara of Shrinathji catalogs a set of previously unpublished miniature paintings of the Pushtimarg tradition from the collection of late Shri Gokal Lal Mehta. These 60 splendid artworks were executed by Sukhdev Gaur, the mukhia (chief artist) of the temple, during the dynamic stewardship of Tilkayat Govardhanlalji (1862–1934 AD). Documenting the high degree of skill in draughtsmanship, portraiture and in composition, expositions by artist Amit Ambalal accompany the exceptional, high-quality photographic reproductions of these beautiful paintings in this captivating volume.
Having set up practice a couple of decades after independence, Namita Singh belongs to the generation of architects who participated in the country’s rapid development, providing a range of infrastructure projects for a society in the making, its institutions and cities. A Chandigarh-based practice, her firm has delivered a range of buildings, including educational institutes, offices, commercial projects, housing, heritage and restoration works, private homes and interiors across India. While much of her work is in tune with a contemporary modernism, Namita Singh has always drawn on local values and technologies for its generic expressions.
A volume long overdue, the publication includes works that illustrate principles the architect uses to build and as well as those that are part of the stylistic consistency of the firm. Accompanying photographs and drawings tell a parallel story and lend value to the breadth of the varied projects presented and of a practice informed by inquiry.
Ganesh Haloi, born in Jamalpur, Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh), moved to Calcutta in 1950 after the Partition of India. Witness to India’s resilient culture, its freedom and struggle for its secular modernism, Haloi is among the artists of the generation who have played a significant role in the shaping of Indian modern art.
Haloi has cultivated a singular vocabulary of abstraction and landscape. This painterly world is textured with knowledge references that the artist is attuned to over decades — from archeology, ancient architecture, art history to sacred philosophy and poetry. His works are exercises in bringing life to the genre of landscape painting through the assembly of disparate symbolic forms.
With extensive essays by eminent art critics interspersed with folios of many previously unpublished works from throughout his life, this monograph documents Haloi’s earth-toned abstract vocabulary that has drawn over time on a vast breadth of iconography, ideas, and movements.
Published in association with Akar Prakar, Kolkata & New Delhi.
After an early stint in Bombay in the 1940s, with the Progressive Artists’ Group, S. H. Raza moved to France, where he spent the next 60 years. This volume explores Raza’s artistic trajectory from the time of his arrival in Paris, as well as his contribution to the development of modernism in the Indian subcontinent.
Raza’s strong thrust towards non-figurative art, and subsequent influences from European and American modernism, combined with his memories and impressions of India, led him to a skillful negotiation between Indian spirituality and Western abstraction. Beginning with early works developed in India before 1947, the essays in this volume analyze Raza’s later abstraction processes and landscapes. An anthology of previously unpublished letters offer glimpses of the master at work, and a detailed chrono-biography situates him within the transcultural dynamics of the 1950s to the 1980s.
Accompanying the S.H. Raza exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2023, this monograph presents a compelling overview of Raza’s work and the highlights of his journey.
Published in association with the Raza Foundation, New Delhi and Centre Pompidou, Paris.
‘Janamsakhis’ are stories about the life of Guru Nanak (1469–1539). They have been circulating orally, in writing, and in paintings and illustrations. B40 is one such documented artistic expression held at the British Library in London. Its 57 beautiful iconotexts narrate the life of the first Sikh Guru from his first day at school to his final moments. The talented artist Alam Chand Raj illustrates Guru Nanak’s sensuous feel for the all-inclusive Divine, his interior and exterior journeys, his manifold inter-faith conversations, his environmental aesthetics, and his marvelous actions. In the language of vibrant colors Guru Nanak’s transcendent materiality and world-affirming existentiality are exquisitely written out. The stylistic infusions of Punjabi art, Chaurapanchasika style and folk-art style of the Rajasthani Malwa School bring the historical Guru close to the viewer. Along with the artwork there is the rich text by Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh explaining the stories from a 21st-century perspective. She insightfully explores the question – how are the Janamsakhis relevant to the political, societal, economic, and environmental state of the world at present.
It is a fascinating story that the merchant companies of Europe, established with the aim of sourcing exotic eastern spices, stumbled upon Indian handmade textiles and found these a highly profitable product for their home markets. This process was to have far-reaching consequences for colonial history.
In When Indian Flowers Bloomed in Europe the author takes us on a tour of 30 masterpieces of Indian textiles from the TAPI Collection, commissioned by European patrons in the 17th and 18th centuries. Presented here are outstanding examples of large, intricately hand-drawn, dye-painted cotton chintzes made in the Coromandel Coast, and embroidered palampores and garment pieces made in Gujarat and the Deccan. Textiles made for Dutch and British patrons demonstrate the aesthetic high point achieved by Indian artisans in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indian patterned cottons such as these, with their infinite variety of floral motifs, left a profound and enduring impact on textile designers in the western hemisphere, unexpectedly setting the stage for the Industrial Revolution.
The informative text is accompanied by rarely seen images from museums and private collections, offering fresh insights into these iconic examples. Three essays followed by individually explained catalog entries for each textile add to a greater understanding of an important, historical phase in the development and global recognition of India’s textile art, now preserved in museums and collections worldwide as a testament to the handiwork of the skilled artisans of India.
Six women, six stories. They make cartoons and graphic work in the besieged Syrian city of Idlib or unfree Egypt of President al-Sisi, they fight fat shaming and homophobia in Mexico, are on the run from president Putin, criticize Hindu nationalism and misogyny from Indian Prime Minister Modi or defy the powers that be in The Washington Post. Whether they are from Mexico, the USA, Syria, Egypt, India or Russia, they all belong to the absolute world top. But the way to the top was not an easy one for any of them.
Architecture Asia, as the official journal of the Architects Regional Council Asia, aims to provide a forum, not only for presenting Asian phenomena and their characteristics to the world, but also for understanding diversity and multiculturalism within Asia from a global perspective.
This issue focuses on the topic of Architecture Writing and Literature, and features five essays and ten projects that elaborate on this topic. The five essays, separately, introduce Writing Architectural Pedagogies, Indian Architectural Literature in UKs Academe, Architecture of Writing and Criticism, How to Believe in Architecture becoming Author of History and Writing Habitation and Inhabiting Writing. The ten projects, accompanied with full-color photos and text descriptions, highlight various types of architectural works from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, showing how architects show their projects through words, depending on the types of architectural work.
If there is one grand tale that has impacted Asia, it has to be the Ramayana, the great Indian epic. From India, the Rama tale is presumed to have traveled along three routes — by land, the northern route took the story from Punjab and Kashmir into China, Tibet, and East Turkestan; by sea, the southern route carried the story from Gujarat and South India into Java, Sumatra, and Malaya; and again by land, the eastern route delivered the story from Bengal into Burma, Thailand, Laos, and to some extent, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Indonesia and Malaysia, the epic has been incorporated into the Islamic tradition; Theravada Buddhism in Thailand and Cambodia adopted Hindu divinities from the Rama story into its fold.
With stunning original art, this sumptuously illustrated volume celebrates this all-inclusive tradition of the epic, foregrounding it as a cultural phenomenon across time and space.
Hand-woven rugs from Persia are among the most exquisite art works ever created. In this fully revised edition of Persian Rugs, Essie Sakhai reveals recent discoveries that present us with a new understanding of this unique art. With hundreds of stunning new photographs, taken especially for this book, Sakhai takes us on a journey through Iran and beyond.
Beginning with the history and art of creating woven masterpieces, Persian Rugs goes on to present full-page examples of some of the most cherished and valuable rugs and carpets in the world. No two hand-woven carpets are the same, each with its own special property, beauty and quality. Sakhai has handpicked the most important of these and gives detailed explanations of how and why these art forms hold such singular and even mystical appeal. A new demand for original and ancient hand-woven pieces has increased their value greatly, leading to world-record prices being achieved at auction and important examples entering major museum collections around the world.
Indian Summer presents a group of skillful and expressive figurative paintings in oil on canvas and linen by artist Raghav Babbar (b. 1997) that include intimate portraits as well as large-scale group compositions. Babbar’s sitters span friends from his childhood in Rohtak, a city north-west of Delhi, pan-sellers, dancers from the south of India, family members, as well as himself.
Indian Summer is the first publication on Babbar, which features reproductions of over forty works created from 2020–23 and views of his 2023 exhibitions at Nahmad Projects, London, and Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice. Lock Kresler, Senior Director at Helly Nahmad Gallery, London, introduces the book, explaining his first encounters with Babbar and his practice. An essay by art historian, broadcaster, and commentator Dr Cleo Roberts-Komireddi examines how Babbar uses his materials, treats his subjects, and delves into his sources of inspiration, classic Hindi and Tamil cinema and the School of London artists.
Babbar celebrates the individual as he showcases the diversity of his country in his textural, rich, and joyful portraits that teem with life.
This lavishly illustrated book, the second volume in the series Orchha,Datia, Panna: Miniatures from the Royal Courts of Bundelkhand (1590–1850),deals with the second and third periods of Orchha painting, which span the years 1605 through 1675. A central theme of the paintings presented in this volume is the love between the archetypal couple Krishna and Radha, which is both mystical-religious and secular-playful in nature. Indeed, it is the confluence of sacred and profane love that gives India’s culture and art its unique spirit. The images were created to illustrate poetic works such as the Rasikapriya, whose author, the Orchha court poet Keshavdas, invites his readers to savor the aesthetic and religious delight of Radha-Krishna love through his riti lyrics in the vernacular language of his era. Through stylistic analyzes and interpretations of over 100 paintings from his collection, many of them published here for the first time, the author brings to light the accomplishments of the Orchha school during its heyday in the seventeenth century.
Wabi-sabi, that ancient philosophy which embraces imperfection, lies at the very heart of Japanese traditions—both artistic and societal. Today, it is being diluted by modernity. Worse still, this timeless aesthetic—nourished by the slow passage of time and enriched by the patina of age—is being cheapened by the mass-market home décor industry. Reducing wabi-sabi to what it once was, or to a fleeting “lifestyle” trend, is to confine it within a box. From their encounter with architect Kengo Kuma, the authors have retained—and illustrate here—his vision of “modern wabi-sabi. Through their travels in India, Europe, and Morocco, they have witnessed the transcontinental ripple effect of wabi-sabi and, through this aesthetic, the subtle yet powerful influence of Japan. While journeying through the Japanese archipelago, they met with a new generation who is preserving, revealing, and carrying forward this philosophy: the new ambassadors of wabi-sabi. From a shared moment with a monk in a teahouse to a thousand quiet joys, they experienced the wabi-sabi feeling… They summon it here, and invite you to experience it too.
Part travel journal, part photo book, and part collection of testimonies—Anne-Emmanuelle Thion, a nomadic photographer, and Thierry Grundman, a traveling antiques dealer and founder of Atmosphère d’Ailleurs and the Wabi-Sabi Lab—offer a cross-cultural, contemporary vision of wabi-sabi through encounters with those who embody it today.
Text in English and French.
The famed Bengal textiles which once ‘clothed the world’ have received little scholarly attention. With the systemic destruction of Bengal’s textile industry, prompted by the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the muslins and Balucharis of Bengal were lost in obscurity. The partition of the Indian subcontinent and the consequent varieties of cultural and social identity in present-day India and Bangladesh have contributed to this neglect. This pioneering publication explores in depth the lost textile traditions of Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century and traces its impact on the historical and cultural aspects of the region.
Supported by superb illustrations of textiles, maps and trade documents from the past, most of which have never been published before, the book serves as a public history, with engaging chapters presenting a unique perspective on the textiles of wider Bengal. This volume will inspire the reader, reorient scholarly attention and provoke a rethinking of the nature and history of Bengal textiles.
Ammi’s Kitchen: Heirloom Recipes from Rampur is a tribute to all grandmothers who have been the torchbearers of saving and passing on the legacy of classic traditional family recipes. Pernia Qureshi’s grandmother, Mussharaf-ul-Nissa Begum, originally from Chandausi in the United Provinces, was married at a young age into the princely state of Rampur. With the influence of her hometown, now combined with the newfound exposure to Rampur’s more modern and eclectic cuisine, she created a food language that was uniquely her own.
This book is a collection of recipes she mastered over the years, which still carry the aromas of the treasures of history.