Art and Nationalism in Colonial India, 1850-1922: Occidental OrientationsPartha Mitter's book is a pioneering study of the history of modern art on the Indian subcontinent from 1850 to 1922. The author tells the story of Indian art during the Raj, set against the interplay of colonialism and nationalism. The work addresses the tensions and contradictions that attended the advent of European naturalism in India, as part of the imperial design for the westernisation of the elite, and traces the artistic evolution from unquestioning westernisation to the construction of Hindu national identity. Through a wide range of literary and pictorial sources, Art and Nationalism in Colonial India balances the study of colonial cultural institutions and networks with the ideologies of the nationalist and intellectual movements which followed. The result is a book of immense significance, both in the context of South Asian history and in the wider context of art history. |
Contents
2 | 29 |
Salon artists and the rise of the Indian public | 63 |
27 | 69 |
47 | 79 |
533 | 85 |
The power of the printed image | 120 |
Salon artists mechanical reproductions and peoples | 173 |
Raja Ravi Varma | 179 |
Common terms and phrases
Abanindranath Tagore academic art Ajanta ancient art school artisans Bagal Balendranath Baroda Basantak Bengal Renaissance Bengal School bhadralok Bharati Birdwood Bombay Art Society Bose British Calcutta Calcutta Art Studio cartoons century Chatterjee Chughtai colonial colour Coomaraswamy courtesy critics cultural decorative Delhi dranath drawing early English European art exhibition figure Gaganendranath Tagore Gangoly Ghosh Griffiths Gupta Havell Havell's Hindi Punch Hindu ideal illustrations Indian art Indian artists Indian Charivari Indian Painting inspired Japanese Kalighat Kṛṣṇa landscapes lithographs London Madras magazine Mhatre miniatures Mitra Mitter Modern Review Mughal Museum Nandalal Nandalal Bose nationalist naturalism Nayar Nivedita Okakura oleographs oriental art orientalists painter Parsi picture political portrait Prabāsi prints Rabindranath Raja Ravi Varma Renaissance revival Rothenstein Sahitya salon Sarkar School of Art sculpture Shilpa Simla sketches style Sukumar Sukumar Ray swadeshi Taikan taste teacher Temple traditional Victorian watercolour westernisation