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Material and Visual Culture

of South Asia Option for the MPhil and MSt in History and Oriental Studies

Dr Mallica Kumbera Landrus mallica.kumberalandrus@ashmus.ox.ac.uk Description: Patterns of patronage that developed under Mughal and European rule in South Asia had significant consequences for visual material and culture on the Indian subcontinent. Aware of the potential of art and

architecture as means of self-representation, political powers asserted their status in diverse ways. To express multiple identities, they drew ideas from regional and trans-regional cultures. Objects and architectural sites will be examined in light of their cultural, political and socio-economic context, as well as stylistic developments, and the emergence of new ideas produced under the political authority exercised by the different religious groups. Using the collections in the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, the classes will be held in an Eastern Art study room with opportunities for students to handle and view objects that represent the period and are relevant to the topic discussed each week. Assignments: Weekly essays (approximately 1500 words) are due Monday noon. General Readings: Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Mughal State 1526-1750, 1998. Catherine B. Asher and Cynthia Talbot, India Before Europe, 2006. Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 2004. Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom, The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250–1800, 1995: Chapters 4–5, 9, 11. K. N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean : An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 , 1985. Paul Crossley, ‘Medieval Architecture and Meaning: The Limits of Iconography’ in The Burlington Magazine 130, 1019, Feb. 1988. Anne D’Alleva, Methods and Theories of Art History, 2005. Steve Edwards (ed.), Art and Its Histories: A Reader, 1999. Eric Fernie, Art History and Its Methods: A Critical Anthology, 1995. Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, 1989. Robert S Nelson and Richard Shiff, Critical Terms for Art History, 2003. Erwin Panofsky, ‘Iconography and Iconology: An Introduction to the Study of Renaissance Art’, in Meaning in the Visual Arts: Papers in and on Art History, 1955: pp. 26–54. Donald Preziosi, The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, 2009.

 

 

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Week 1: Introduction: Period before 1500 Readings: Vidya Deheji, Indian Art, 1997, 4–296. Richard Eaton, ‘Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States’, Journal of Islamic Studies 11:3, 2000: pp. 283-319. Also in Beyond Turk and Hindu: rethinking religious identities in Islamicate South Asia, eds. Gilmartin, D. and Law, B., Gainesville, 2000: pp. 246–281. -----, A social history of the Deccan, 1300-1761: eight Indian lives, 2005. -----, India's Islamic traditions, 711-1750: pp. 2003. Barry F Flood,“Between cult and culture: Bamiyan, Islamic iconoclasm and the Museum,” Art Bulletin 84, no. 4, December 2002: pp. 641–659. Barry F Flood, ‘Refiguring iconoclasm in the early Indian mosque’, in Negating the image: case studies in iconoclasm, ed. A. McClanan and J. Johnson, Ashgate, 2005: pp. 15–40. Oleg Grabar, The Formation of the Islamic Art, 1973. George Michell, Islamic Heritage of the Deccan, 1986. Abha Narain Lambha and Alka Patel, The Architecture of the Indian Sultanates, Marg Vol 58, September 2006. Week 2: Mughal Paintings Readings: Milo C. Beach, Early Mughal Painting, 1987. Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom, ‘The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field’ in The Art Bulletin 85, 2003: 152–84. Vidya Dehejia, ‘Visions of Paradise: The Luxury of Mughal Art’, in Indian Art, 1997: pp. 299-334. Ellison Banks Findly, Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India, (1611-1627), 2001. Pratapaditya Pal, Master Artists of the Imperial Mughal Court, 1991. John Seyller, Workshop and Patron in Mughal India, 1999. Andrew Topsfield, Paintings from Mughal India in the Bodleian Library, 1994. -----, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, 2012. Week 3: Mughal Architecture Readings: Catherine Asher, Architecture of Mughal India, 1992. Wayne Begley and Z A Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb. An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Mughal and European Documentary Sources, 1989. Michael Brand and Glenn D Lowry, Akbar’s India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory, 1985. Oleg Grabar, ‘What Should One Know about Islamic Art?’, Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 43, Spring 2003: pp. 5–11. Robert Hillenbrand, ‘Studying Islamic Architecture: Challenges and Perspectives’, Architectural History 46, 2003: pp. 1–18. William Klingelhofer, 'The Jahangiri Mahal of the Agra Fort: Expression and Experience in Early Mughal Architecture', Muqarnas 5, 1988: pp. 153-69. Ebba Koch, Mughal Architecture, 1991. Ebba Koch, 'Diwan-i Amm and Chihil Sutun: The Audience Halls of Shah Jahan', Muqarnas 11, 1994: pp. 143-65. Ebba Koch, 'Mughal Palace Gardens from Babur to Shah Jahan (1526-1648)', Muqarnas 14, 1997: pp. 143-65. Alina Macneal, 'The Stone Encampment', Environmental Design 1-2, 1991: pp. 36-45. Elizabeth Moynihan, Paradise as a Garden, 1979. Nasser Rabbat, ‘Islamic Architecture as a Field of Historical Inquiry’, AD Architectural Design 74, Nov.–Dec. 2004: pp. 18–23.

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Week 4: Rajput Art and Architecture Readings: * Molly Emma Aitken, The Intelligence of Tradition in Rajput Court Painting, 2010.* * Catherine Asher, Mapping Hindu-Muslim Identities Through the Architecture of Shahjahanabad and Jaipur. Asher, Catherine, 2000.* Vishakha Desai, ‘Painting and Politics in Seventeenth-Century North India: Mewar, Bikaner and the Mughal Court’, Art Journal 49, 1990: pp. 370-8. Karine Schomer et al., The Idea of Rajasthan: Explorations in Regional Identity, 2 volumes, 1994. * Giles H R Tillotson, The Rajput Palaces: The Development of an Architectural Style, 1450-1750, 1987.* Andrew Topsfield, The City Palace Museum Udaipur, 1990. Week 5: The Portuguese in India Readings: Paul Axelrod and Michelle A. Fuerch, ‘Flight of the Deities: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa’, in Modern Asian Studies, Volume 30, Issue 2, 1996: pp. 387-421. Gauvin Bailey, ‘Jesuit Art and Architecture in Asia’, in The Jesuits and the Arts, 1540-1773, 2005: pp. 313-332. Stewart Gordon, The Marathas 1600-1818, 1993. Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Trans-cultural Temples: Identity and Practice in Goa,’ in In the Shadow of the Golden Age, ed. Julia Hegewald, 2014. Jay A. Levenson (ed.), Encompassing the Globe – Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, 2007. Sidh Losa Mendiratta (writes in Portuguese as well as English. Check his website) M. N. Pearson, The Portuguese in India, 1987. P.P. Shirdokar, ‘Socio-Cultural Life in Goa During 16th Century’, in Goa and Portugal: their cultural links, Charles J. Borges, Helmut Feldmann eds., 1997: pp. 23-40. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700: A Political and Economic History, 1993. Also suggested with reference to the essay this week: Catherine Asher and Thomas Metcalf (eds.), Perceptions of South Asia’s Visual Past, 1994. Alka Patel (ed.), Breaking Idols, Making Icons: The History and Historiography of Reuse in South Asia, Archives of Asian Art 59, 2009. Week 6: The British Raj Readings: C. A. Bayly, The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, 1991. K. N. Chaudhuri, The Trading World of Asia and the English East India Company, 1660-1760, 1978. Thomas Metcalfe, An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj, 1989. Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters: A History of European Reactions to Indian Art, 1977. Ray Murphy, Edward Lear’s Indian Journal, 1953. Pratapaditya Pal and Vidya Dehejia, From Merchants to Emperors: British Artists and India, 1757-1930, 1986. John Richards, The Mughal Empire, 1993. Giles H.R.Tillotson, "Orientalizing the Raj. Indo-Saracenic Fantasies," in Marg Volume 46, 1994: pp. 15-34. Week 7: Nationalism and Modernity in Indian Architecture Readings: John Clark, Modern Asian Art, 1998.

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William Curtis, ‘Authenticity, Abstraction and the Ancient Sense: Le Corbusier’s and Louis Kahn’s Ideas of Parliament’, in Perspecta Volume 12, 1983: pp. 181-194. Norma Evenson, The Indian Metropolis: A View Towards the West, 1989. Kajri Jain, Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art, 2007.

Geeta Kapur, When Was Modernism: Essays on Contemporary Cultural Practice in India, 2000. Partha Mitter, Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922, 1994. Sunand Prasad, “Le Corbusier in India,” in Le Corbusier Architect of the Century, 1987: pp. 278-337. Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Westernization and Tradition in South Indian Painting in the 19th Century: The Case of Raja Ravi Varma 1848-1906, in Studies in History, 1986. Tapati Guha-Thakurta, The Making of a New "Indian" Art: Artists, Aesthetics, and Nationalism in Bengal, c1850–1920, 1992. Giles H. R. Tillotson, The Tradition of Indian Architecture, 1989. Kedar Vishwanathan, Aesthetics, Nationalism, and the Image of Woman in Modern Indian Art, Comparative Literature and Culture 12.2, 2010. Week 8: Tradition in Modern and Contemporary Art? Readings: Rebecca M. Brown, Art for a Modern India, 1947-1980, 2009. Chandrasekhar and P.C. Seel (eds.), body.city: siting contemporary culture in India, 2003. Essl Museum (ed.), Chalo! India – A New Era of Indian Art, 2009. Geeta Kapur, Contemporary Indian Artists, 1978. R. Siva Kumar, “Modern Indian Art: A Brief Overview” in Art Journal, 1999. Mallica Kumbera Landrus, M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces, 1950s-70s, Brown University, 2010. --- Tradition, Trauma, Transformation: Representations of Women, Brown University, 2011. Alnoor Mitha et al., Mapping Art South Asia – A visual and cultural dialogue between Britain and South Asia, 2006. P.R. Ramachandra, Contemporary Indian Art, 1969. Geeti Sen, Image and Imagination: Five Contemporary Artists in India, 1996. Ajay J. Sinha, “Contemporary Indian Art: A Question of Method” in Art Journal, 1999.