foreign ambassadors
If you’re looking to see some great Indian art this winter, head right over to America, says ALLIE BISWAS
While the public display of Indian art in America has been growing steadily, the latter half of 2011 makes it clear that American interest in our visual culture has definitely peaked. A range of exhibitions showcase art from India, including works you may not have seen back home.
The classic
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art sets the stage with ‘Wonder Of The Age: Master Painters Of India, 1100-1900’. Exploring Indian painting over eight centuries, the show seeks to present a clear chronology through 40 of India’s most important artists in history. Indian painting has traditionally been classified according to regions or dynasties; ‘Wonder
The contemporary
At San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, you’ll find ‘The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art Of India’. The group exhibit coincides with ‘Maharaja’, a show about the culture of India’s royalty at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. Also on is a display of photography and video from the South Asian diaspora at San Francisco State University’s gallery. ‘The Matter Within’ shows the work of performance artist Nikhil Chopra, sculptor Rina Banerjee and photographers Bharat Sikka and Dhruv Malhotra. “It’s amazing how much interest there is in Indian art in Europe,” says Betti-Sue Hertz, director of visual arts at the YBCA. “This excitement is just starting to catch on in the US.”
Go for: Installations by Thukral and Tagra; performances by Nikhil Chopra. ‘The Matter Within’ is on till January 29, 2012; Ybca.org
The curious
on display
From top: Works that will be shown at the Met, the YBCA and the Brooklyn Museum
Of The Age’ instead celebrates the practitioners responsible for stylistic shifts in each period. Of the 220 works, rare pieces have been borrowed from the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Oriental Institute in St Petersburg. John Guy, curator of South Asian Art at the Met, says that “contemporary Indian art collecting has come of age, and rightly so. It now needs to find its place alongside older forms of artistic expression.”
Go for: 800 years of Indian art.
‘Wonder Of The Age’ is on till January 8, 2012; Metmuseum.org
The Brooklyn Museum tries something different with ‘Split Second: Indian Paintings’. Some 4,000 online participants were shown two randomly generated paintings side by side and were given four seconds to pick one. They were then asked detailed questions about the works. ‘Split Second’ showcases the ones that generated the most compelling responses and explores how our initial reaction to a work of art is affected by what we know and what we’re told about the object in question. The newest works date from the 19th century. Joan Cummins, who is the Lisa and Bernard Selz curator of Asian art, co-organised the show and explains that Indian paintings were chosen because, “We didn’t want people to recognise images as famous and therefore give them higher scores.”
Go for: Ancient art in a new avatar.
‘Split Second’ is on till January 1, 2012; Brooklynmuseum.org n
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152 vogue india noveMBeR 2011 www.vogue.in