State of the Art

The Saffronart Blog

Month: December 2012

Exploring Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire at the British Library

December 17, 2012

Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart in conversation with Malini Roy, curator of the current Mughal exhibition at the British Library, London

Mughal India Art, Culture and Empire, British Library, London

Mughal India Art, Culture and Empire, British Library, London

London: On display at the British Library until April 2013, ‘Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire’ celebrates the Mughal empire for the first time in its entirety, from its beginning to its eventual decline (1526-1858).

The exhibition, divided thematically, explores the rich cultural heritage the Mughals left  in the fields of art, architecture, literature and science, and it also celebrates the patrons that made these innovations and discoveries possible.

I had the pleasure of meeting Malini Roy at the British Library and asking her few questions about the exhibition.

Malini Roy, Curator of Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, British Library, London

Malini Roy, Curator of Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, British Library, London

Q: The exhibition Mughal India covers the entire Mughal period for the first time. Why did you decide to cover the entire period and not just focus on a certain aspect or time frame?

A: I decided to focus on the whole Mughal Period because no one really looks at the entire period. Also, my interest and research is on the late Mughal Period and I wanted to include it in this exhibition and the British Library has an extensive collection covering the entire period.

Q: How many works are on display? What is their provenance?

A: There are circa two-hundred works on display. Most of them are from the British Library Collection, the rest are from institutions and museums’ collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the British Museum (London), the Royal Asiatic Society (London), the Bodleian Library (Oxford), the India Office Library Collection (London) and the Royal Collection (Windsor).

Q: What are the highlights of the exhibition? What is the most significant work for you?

A: There are many highlights of the exhibition [which you can enjoy in the slideshow at the end of the interview] so it is quite difficult to choose a few. Personally I really like “A Panorama of  Delhi by Mazhar ‘Ali Khan”. It is an impressive five meter long painting showing the Delhi panorama drawn from the view point of the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort. Also, the playful “Squirrels in a Plane Tree” is one of my favourite works.

A Panorama of Delhi by Mazhar 'Ali Khan. Image Credit: © The British Library Board

A Panorama of Delhi by Mazhar ‘Ali Khan. Image Credit: © The British Library Board

Squirrels in a plane tree. Image Credit: © The British Library Board

Squirrels in a plane tree. Image Credit: © The British Library Board

Q: At the beginning of the year the Ashmolean Museum presented ‘Visions of Mughal India: The collection of Howard Hodgkin’, and the Fondazione Roma Museo is currently showing: ‘Akbar: The Great Emperor of India’. Now the British Library is hosting ‘Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire’. It is evident that there is a great interest in Mughal India. What is your opinion on this?

A: The interest in Mughal art and culture has been constant. It is one of the most celebrated periods of Indian history. However the last exhibition dedicated to the entire Mughal Period dates 1982 and was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum: ‘The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule’. So we wanted to remind people of our collection of Mughal miniatures and show these fine works of art.

Q: To whom is this exhibition directed? How many visitors are you expecting? How has the response been so far?

A: Traditionally, British Library exhibitions attract traditional museum visitors. However we have had a quite diverse audience so far, many art and primary school students came to see the exhibition. The response has been very positive, we had very positive reviews from newspapers, art magazines  and the exhibition is listed as one of top exhibitions at the moment in London. And we are definitely meeting our target with an average of 360 visitors per day.

Q: What is the main message behind this exhibition?

A: I wanted to showcase the wonderful collection the British Library has and that people don’t know about and also celebrate some the greatest patrons of Indian art and architecture that created some of finest artworks which still witness their grandeur. Also since now the interest seems to be more on modern and contemporary Indian art I wanted to bring the Mughals back under the spot light.

Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire is definitely a must see if you are in London. The exhibition will make you experience traditional Mughal life during your visit and educate you through superb works of art.

More information on the exhibition can be found on the British Library website. Below you can enjoy a slideshow of highlights from the exhibition.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dr. Malini Roy is the Curator of Visual Arts at the British Library. Her field of research focuses on later Mughal painting and Company paintings produced during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in the provinces of Awadh and Bengal as well as at the Mughal capital of Delhi.

 

Jamdani: A Tribute to the Bangladeshi Weaver

December 16, 2012

Jamdani Sari The Nadia Samdani Collection, The Story by Saffronart

Jamdani Sari
The Nadia Samdani Collection, The Story by Saffronart

Manjari Sihare of Saffronart explores the art of Jamdani weaving in conjunction with the saris featured in Nadia Samdani’s collection on The Story

New York: This past week, Saffronart launched a new collection in The Story, curated Bangladeshi collector and philanthropist, Nadia Samdani. Best known as the foremost connoisseur of Bangladeshi contemporary art in her capacity as the Founder and Director of Dhaka Art Summit, Nadia Samdani has brought together an exquisite collection of contemporary art, jewelry as well as traditional textiles from Bangladesh. What caught my fancy are two light hued jamdani saris. It is common knowledge that Jamdanis are handloom woven fabrics made of cotton, which was historically referred to as muslin.

Jamdani weaving is the foremost symbol of Bangladesh’s rich cultural heritage. The cities of Dhaka and Narayanganj in Central Bangladesh have served as hubs for Jamdani handlooms for centuries. Numerous chronicles reference jamdani weaving. In the book Sril Silat-ut-Tawarikh, written in the 9th century, the Arab geographer Solaiman talks about the fine fabrics manufactured in the state called Rumy, or modern day Bangladesh. An interesting article in The News Today references the famous Book of Periplus of Ertitrean Sea (written as an navigation and trading account of the world), noting that it documents the fine fabrics available in this area as far back as the first decade before the birth of  Christ. The golden age of Dhaka muslin, however, began with Mughal rule in the 17th century. Due to the labor and time intensive manufacturing process, Jamdani fabric was frightfully expensive and thus a luxury afforded by only royals and aristocrats.

An authentic Jamdani loom with two weavers sitting alongside each other Image credit:

An authentic Jamdani loom with two weavers sitting alongside each other
Image credit: http://www.eyefetch.com

Jamdani weaving is similar to other handloom weaving techniques, wherein small shuttles of threads are passed through the weft. It is hand-woven on a bamboo loom with the weaver sitting in a trench dug into the ground. As illustrated in the above image, two weavers sit alongside each other at the loom and add every discontinuous
supplementary weft motif separately, by hand, interlacing the supplementary
weft threads into the warp with fine bamboo sticks in a zigzag manner using
individual spools of thread. It is a special process as there is no use of mechanism what so ever and neither does the loom make any noise. The design is drawn on a graph paper and placed underneath the warp. It is remarkable that the designs are never sketched or outlined on the parent fabric. In fact some seasoned weavers don’t even use the graph paper; they insert motifs from memory! The patterns are mostly floral or geometric. The Victoria and Albert Museum of London have a fine collection of Jamdani saris.

Sari (jamdani) Bangladesh About 1880 Muslin Width 86 cm x Length 335 cm IS.664-1883, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Sari (jamdani) Bangladesh About 1880 Muslin Width 86 cm x Length 335 cm IS.664-1883, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Two of the saris in the Nadia Samdani collection are excellent examples of Jamdaani weaving. The ivory and gold sari exhibits a beautiful  ‘butidar’ pattern, a term where the entire sari is scattered with floral sprays. A design with larger flowers is also referred to as ‘toradar’. My preference of the two is the pink and gold sari for its lightly colored hue and its beautiful ‘jaal’ (a term used when the design covers the entire field of the sari).

What makes Jamdani the exquisite art form it is? Its exclusivity is attributed to its rarity. The decline in the Jamdani industry is reported to have begun as early as the  middle of the eighteenth century.  With the decline of the Mughal empire in the Indian sub-continent, Jamdani kaarigars or weavers lost their most influential patrons. This is considered to be the primary reason for the decline of this exquisite art form. The decline was accentuated with the subsequent import of lower quality and cheaper yarn from Europe. These issues have had repercussions in contemporary times as well. With the oldest generations of artisans unable to sustain their craft production, the younger generations did not have any training to fall back on. Also, the main Jamdani-making belt in Bangladesh, on the banks of the river Shitalakhya, is under severe threat with waste from factories, mills, and settlements. The long-winded nature of the Jamdani weaving process demands a price that limits its consumer base. A craft process at risk of extinction, it must be recognised that the Jamdani industry can only survive if the market is expanded.

The Sovereign Art Foundation and Prize

December 14, 2012

Medha Kapur of Saffronart shares a note on The Sovereign Art Foundation and its esteemed Prize

The Sovereign Art Foundation Established in 2003, The Sovereign Art Foundation is a registered charity in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The Foundation works with M’Lop Tapang, Kalki Welfare Society, Kids Company, and many more charities and funds to raise money to help disadvantaged children using the arts as rehabilitation, education and therapy. The Foundation was set up by Howard Bilton, a tax lawyer who turned his art-collecting hobby into the Foundation, which also runs what is now Asia’s largest art prize. Howard is also the chairman of The Sovereign Group.

The Foundation annual Sovereign European and Asian Art Prizes give recognition to some of the most important artists of our time. They essentially invite established artists to enter the competition which carries a first prize of US$ 25,000. All artists that enter the competition are judged by a panel of art experts, and the longlisted 30 show their work at an exhibition. The announcement of the prize winner is made during the exhibition or at the Foundation’s charity auction dinner. A US$ 1,000 Public Prize is also awarded by the Foundation based on votes cast by the public at the exhibition or through the Foundation’s website.

In 2011, the Sovereign Foundation launched the Sovereign African Art Prize which aims at raising public awareness about African art, offering recognition and opportunity to African artists, and raising significant funding for charities in Africa.

Sarnath Banerjee

Sarnath Banerjee
Lalbazaar Detective Department: Lower Pile

Sarnath Banerjee is an Indian graphic artist who has made it to the top 20 of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize this year. His artwork at the Foundation is mainly text and image based, with the intention of simplifying complex systems chiefly to understand them. In the process, he brings levity and emotional depth to otherwise incomprehensible subjects. You can vote for Sarnath Banerjee on the Foundation website, and read an earlier interview with him on this blog here. 

Miguel Payano Sha-Boy

Miguel Payano
Sha-Boy
Winner of the 2010 Public Prize
Image Courtesy http://www.sovereignartfoundation.com

JeongMee Yoon The Pink Project II - Lauren & Carolyn and their Pink & Purple things

JeongMee Yoon
The Pink Project II – Lauren & Carolyn and their Pink & Purple things
2011 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Winner
Image Courtesy http://www.sovereignartfoundation.com

Halim Al-Karim - Witness From Baghdad 1

Halim Al-Karim (Iraqi, b. 1963)
Witness From Baghdad 1
Image Courtesy http://www.sovereignartfoundation.com

Bhil Art: Tribal Paintings from India

December 14, 2012

Amy Lin of Saffronart explores the wonders of Bhil art and their significances

gond_12_08454_big

Bhuri Bai
Untilted
The Story by Saffronart

New York: Tribal art has been gaining popularity in recent years due to the rich cultural heritage it reflects and the bold creations it results in. In a previous post, we discussed Gond art in celebration of the first Indian Folk and Tribal Art Auction held at Saffronart. After with the Gonds, the Bhils are the second largest tribal community in western and central India. Their art focuses on their natural environment filled with songs, rituals, tattoos and folklore. In a new collection on The Story by Saffronart called Rhythms and Rituals, we’re featuring some fantastic pieces from celebrated Bhil artists.

The tradition of Bhil painting first stemmed from the home. Upon visiting a Bhil household, one will discover a delightful myriad of images from myth and folklore adorning their walls and ceilings. Every year, a new plaster of mittichitra (clay relief work) and paintings are applied to the interiors of the house. Pigments are ground from natural materials and leaves and flowers, while brushes are made with neem twigs.

Pithora horses are a common theme among Bhil artists. The traditional painter or lekhindra often paints pithoras as an offering to the goddesses. According to legend, the people of the Kingdom Dharmi Raja have forgotten how to laugh. The brave prince Pithora rode on horseback through a dangerous terrain and brought back laughter and joy from the goddess Himali Harda. Similar to all adivasi tribes, the Bhils live close to nature and lead a largely agricultural life. Their paintings reflect the changing seasons, the natural phenomena that guide their harvest, and the gods that protect them.

Subhash Bheel Untitled The Story by Saffronart

Subhash Bheel
Untitled
The Story by Saffronart

Bhuri Bai of Zher is one of the leading Bhil artists of our time. She started painting at a young age when the colors at a local festival inspired her to paint laughing goddesses and everyday scenes from the village. Her mother taught her how to make huts and decorate them with cows that became a prominent symbol in her work. In her adult life, she transferred the paintings from mud to paper and canvas, and continues to decorate the walls at the Museum of Mankind in Bhopal.

gond_12_08456_big

Lado Bai
Untitled
The Story by Saffronart

Another prominent artist is Lado Bai whose art reflects the spirituality and animism of her community. For years, she could not pursue her art because of financial constraints. Her luck turned when she was discovered by the famous Indian artist Jagdish Swaminathan. Swaminathan encouraged her to work for the Adivasi Lok Kala Academy where she had the opportunity to transfer images of festivals, rituals and animals from wall to paper.

Bhil artists are just starting to be internationally recognized. They paint the simple human joys of birth and other ceremonial occasions like harvests that are often forgotten in our modern society. The art of the Bhils along with that of other tribal groups reminds us what the simple pleasures in life are.

FOCUS Photography Festival 2013

December 12, 2012

Sneha Sikand of Saffronart on an upcoming celebration of photography in Mumbai

Focus Festival 2013Image credit: http://www.focusfestivalmumbai.com

Focus Festival 2013
Image credit: http://www.focusfestivalmumbai.com

New Delhi: Come March 2013 and it will be time for Mumbai’s first ever festival of photography. Open to all, it will be spread across various venues in the city, including museums, galleries, restaurants and other public spaces. The central theme of the festival is THE CITY – a celebration of life in these constructed spaces that become part of one’s identity. FOCUS aims to promote the works of young and established photographers from India and abroad.

Organised in collaboration with Asia Art Projects, FOCUS wants to emphasize the relevance of photography and how it translates an individual’s history and creates a larger vision.

FOCUS has also partnered with Wishberry, a crowd-funding platform to raise funds which will be used to organize and promote the event.

Also, in conjunction with the event,  a series of competitions for student, amateur and professional photographers will be held. More information will be available on the FOCUS website soon.