Panjab University meet commemorates art historian Dr BN Goswamy

Chandigarh, January 23

In memory of acclaimed art historian Dr BN Goswamy, who passed away in November last year, Panjab University held a commemorative meet on Tuesday. The event was attended by art lovers and admirers of Dr Goswamy.

Well-known Bharatanatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai presented two dance choreographies – “Lalit Lavanga” and “Raas”. Titled “Celebrating Myth in Miniature Painting”, her performance was based on two miniature paintings.

“Dr Goswamy had shown me these two paintings, one of Radha waiting for her beloved Krishna and the other of Krishna’s ‘raas leela’. He asked me to work around them. Initially, I didn’t know how to, but once I sat down and thought about it, things fell in place. His power of visualisation was unparalleled. He could make the invisible visible,” she said.

William Dalrymple, celebrated historian, author, broadcaster, curator and critic, delivered a lecture, titled “Taking Forward BNG’s Legacy – Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company”. He used slides of famous artists and their works who belonged to the British era. Calling the late art historian his “friend, mentor and a hero”, Dalrymple said Dr Goswamy was India’s “greatest art historian”.