A recent book on tea establishes for the reader what tea means to Indians, and how it is served everywhere, besides providing a peep into its history
A recent book on tea establishes for the reader what tea means to Indians, and how it is served everywhere, besides providing a peep into its history
Portraits of young women ascetics with princess-like appearance were created by Deccan painters who saw them as evolved beings
A curious mix of terms, blending Hindi, Persian and Rajasthani words, strikes as one walks through the wonderfully spacious complex that makes up the Sawai Man Singh Palace Museum at Jaipur. This may not be a-typical, and surely one encounters...
Feuillet, occupant of a high office in the French foreign ministry, was inordinately fond of the Fables of La Fontaine. In 1835 he sent several copies of a French edition of the book to Lahore for having them illustrated by an Indian painter
There is freshness in the sketches of Master Kundan Lal of Nathdwara in Rajasthan, made both in England and India during the 19th century
I write here briefly about Company Painting and the idea comes to mind after having seen just a couple of weeks back a fine new catalogue of a part of the collection of Praful and Shilpa Shah both avid collectors of painting even if more widely known as collectors and connoisseurs of Indian textiles
A new event – a range of installations by six Delhi-based artists and a guest curator, also Delhi-based – opened the other day at the Panjab University’s Museum of Fine Arts. Much has been sought to be made of it, but...
I had begun looking forward to the event from the moment the invitation card from the Philadelphia Museum of Art arrived, some two months ago. The fact that there was to be an exhibition of Alvin Bellak’s distinguished collection of...
A new book on Kaavads looks at this timeless storytelling device with warmth, fascination as well as a keen eye
The Bhagvad Gita has been translated, commented upon, paraphrased, rendered into vernaculars, countless times but there are remarkably few illustrated versions of the text of the first of books
Artist after artist tried to visualise the tower and bring into being an image of one of the most ambitious undertakings of man, weaving into this image different themes like lofty thought, ambition, anger, justice and injustice
Abu’l Hasan, a painter in the court of Jahangir, was an artist gifted with deep psychological insight, observation and workmanship
At a recent exhibition on the port towns, one could sense history in all kinds of images and documents, which focused sharply upon the coastal towns of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat
The tents and furnishings in Mughal courts reveal the presence of a flourishing, and highly specialised, industry dealing exclusively with creating and maintaining those remarkable structures
Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali brought, for the first time, much acclaim to a non-European work of literature
One of the glories of Indian painting, this rich, luminous colour holds things together, lifts the spirit and raises visions
When Tagore entered the world of painting seriously in 1923, there seemed to be a harsh edge to nearly everything he painted
An exhibition of select textiles opened at the National Museum in New Delhi recently. It centres upon textiles that left the shores of India centuries ago. When one thinks that one has seen them all, something alluring surfaces, writes B. N. Goswamy
There is much to learn from institutes like Jnana-Pravaha in Benaras, which are dedicated to the study of Indian cultural traditions. Here the emphasis is entirely on nurturing talent and promoting excellence
The simple, unassuming Ramkinkar Baij created monumental works and made a mark on the entire field of sculpture in India
We, in Chandigarh, claimed Prof BN Goswamy as our own, cheering him and basking in his achievements as he travelled and lectured around the world. We knew he would be back home, and we could interact with him, listen to...
On his first death anniversary, a tribute to Prof BN Goswamy
A passion and a vision in Kasauli November 12, 2023 (five days before he passed away aged 90) 19.4.76 (Moscow) Dear Vivan, we had been to Leningrad — fantastic place — remembered you quite a lot. Went to Hermitage and...
BN Goswamy was India’s most eminent art historian — distinguished with the highest honours by the Indian government and admired by his readers and listeners for his deep and traditional understanding of Hindu religiosity as well as Muslim Sufi culture;...
It happens ever so often, but I am still not able to get over my shock whenever someone who I regard as possessed of some learning — not merely literate — or has even a faint trace of interest in...
Behind these innocent and attractive little compositions is a whole world of satire, innuendo, double-speak and the like
If not all, so many poets have commented upon the times they lived in
Even as the philanthropist spearheading its restoration makes news for the wrong reasons, the huge mosaic at the tiny village of Lod continues to throw up surprises