State of the Art

The Saffronart Blog

Posts filed in Antiquities

Getty’s new research portal set to revolutionize the academic world

June 30, 2012

Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart on the Getty Research Institute’s latest offering

The Getty Research Portal

Last month the Getty Research Institute launched a new project which promises to be an immense benefit for the international academic community. The Getty Research Portal is an online facility for art history, architecture and related subjects. So far 20,000 books have been digitalized and are now available online. Most of them were drawn from the Getty Research Institute’s own holdings, and from the libraries of eight international institutions. The portal is available to everyone and the texts can be downloaded free of charge.

This new portal will significantly benefit art historians’ research, making rare books, international periodicals and other important texts available across the globe. The Getty Research Portal will also be useful for students and art historians who don’t have access to major libraries at their home institutions.

Currently, the emphasis of the material available on the portal is mainly on western art, with a few texts on Asian art in Asian languages. However, Murtha Baca, the director of the Getty Research Institute’s program in digital art history, promises that this area is something they are concentrating on, and will continue to develop their collection over the following months and years.

More information about the Research Portal can be found on Getty’s website and on this article.

The Legalities of Antiquities

June 26, 2012

Sneha Sikand on Asia Society’s panel discussion on collecting Ancient Art

New York: The Asia Society recently conducted a panel discussion on collecting antiquities in the 21st century. The panelists consisted of curators, museum experts, university professors, an attorney specializing in art law, and even a former special agent at the department of Homeland Security on cultural property. Why exactly was a talk on Ancient Art getting attention from such a diverse yet connected group of people?

The conversation actually stemmed from the fact that Ancient Art, especially when there is no official record of it can often get stuck in the middle of legal restrictions. What are the implications when importing works from countries like China and India into USA? Has it been stolen from its rightful owner? Does the Museum have the authority to hold an important artefact? And if so, how does it actually make it through custom regulations?

The Future of the Past started as a discussion about the relevance of antiquities in current times but more importantly, it touched upon the importance of cultural property, and an effort to create some semblance of balance between organizations and people who retain these important works, and people who are actually the rightful owners.

Read an article about this discussion.

 

Ragamala Paintings: Poetry, Passion, Song

May 21, 2012

Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart on an exciting new exhibit at the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

London: There are 24 works on display from the collection of the Italian-born Claudio Moscatelli. The collector started his collection after realizing similarities and parallels between ancient Sienese paintings and Indian miniature paintings. He was also extremely intrigued by the main theme of Ragamala miniatures which is the relationship between the lover and the beloved, one which stands for the relationship between the human and divine.

Bhairava Raga, Pahari, Nurpur, c 1690, gouache on paper, 21 x 20.8 cm

Ragamala paintings are pages from a garland (mala) of visual melodies (ragas). On each page different musical modes or ragas are illustrated. Most of these paintings include the text of a short poem or a caption that describes the mood that the particular raga it represents and the mood it is supposed to evoke in the listener.

Click here to listen to an example of a raga represented by a Ragamala painting.

Lalita Ragaputra of Bhairava Raga, Pahari, Chamba, c1690-1700, gouache on paper, 21.5 x 15.5 cm

Ragamala miniatures flourished between the 15th and 19th centuries. This tradition seems to have begun when medieval musicians started associating each raga and mood with a deity and gave it a name to perhaps remember its melody. Afterwards poets and artists personified and transcribed these ragas in verbal and visual forms.

Kakubha Ragini of Megha Raga, Hyderabad, c 1760, gouache on paper, 30.6 x 19.9 cm

Londoners can consider themselves very lucky because this is the first British exhibition displaying only Ragamala paintings, and hence marks a rare opportunity to be immersed in this exclusive world.

More information and events related to the exhibition can be found on the Dulwich Picture Gallery website.