Search results for: 'Architectural history'

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William Hodges (1744-97) was a pioneer in more ways than one. He was the first British landscape painter to visit India, and to portray scenery across the whole breadth of the Gangetic plain. As a writer, he gave the first detailed descriptions of numerous historic Indian buildings, and he theorised about the origins and evolution of Indian architectural design. His art illustrates his exploration into terrain which—in its breadth and scope—was at the time almost as unfamiliar to Indian as to Western eyes.

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A creative workshop for young people, from ages 12 to 14 years, interacting with the narratives depicted in history paintings, inspired by a special viewing of artworks from the museums’ vaults.

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How did the idea of Indian art come to be constructed over the last century and more? The painstaking work of collectors and curators went a long way towards establishing the history of art in India. In this article we highlight some of the most significant collectors of art from South Asia over the course of the twentieth century. Usually starting as personal collections, most of them would eventually donate their works to museums in India or abroad, allowing these rare works to be seen regularly by new generations of art enthusiasts across the world. Their collections, curated exhibitions and publications fashioned the canons of Indian modern and pre-modern art

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In celebration of birds and the long relationship art has shared with the winged creatures, this exhibition brings together four folios to present portraits of Indian birds made in the early nineteenth century. While representations of birds date back to the Ajanta murals, naturalistic imagery reached its peak in Mughal art under Emperor Jahangir. In the late 18th century two connected developments emerged in Lucknow and Calcutta. While General Claude Martin provided imported European paper to the artists in Lucknow to prepare botanical studies and other natural history works, in Calcutta Mary, Lady Impey (wife of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Bengal, Elijah Impey) had a menagerie where she employed artists to portray variety of animals and birds. Dr. William Roxburgh, superintendent of Calcutta Botanical Garden from 1793, also added to the discourse of natural history by appointing local artists to make botanical studies of the specimens in his charge. The efforts of Martin, Impey, Roxburgh and their artists gave rise to a large body of Company Paintings dedicated to natural history.

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DAG invited leading historians of Delhi, Swapna Liddle and Rana Safvi, to explore our archives collection. The items they found there include numerous photographs of the three durbars, taken by prominent photographers of the day. They also include many other objects relating to the durbars, from portraits and medals, to maps and official guidebooks, and to tickets and programmes. Historians in the past have analysed the ideology of the Delhi durbars, but never before has such a collection of the material culture of these events been brought together for display.

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European artists and architects were deeply influenced by the rich cultural heritage and artistic traditions of India, which, in turn, influenced their architectural designs. Artistic representations served as a bridge between cultures, leading to the incorporation of Indian motifs, styles, and decorative elements in colonial architecture. Learn More

An online opportunity for young researchers and early career professionals, from History, Art History, Cultural Studies and related fields, to develop research projects under the guidance of eminent academicians and scholars.

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Twenty years after India’s independence, Films Division, the government’s documentary and propaganda filmmaking body, was seeking to re-invent itself. It had the mandate of recording the nation’s history on film. It was also a project of moulding the citizen through films that were screened in cinema theatres, before the entertainment feature. The films covered varied subjects from development, self-reliance, social issues, to art and culture, making them an invaluable archive of the Indian state’s record of the nation’s history as a modern, progressive nation. The films remained largely unpopular, like homework, among the unwilling audience of people who waited for the entertainment film to follow the documentary. Learn More

Stepping up its efforts to familiarise viewers with the extensive range of Indian modern art, DAG occupied an extensive booth at the India Art Fair 2014, where over 300 paintings and sculptures were displayed, featuring about 125 artists. The specially designed booth was the centre of attraction at the fair and the most prominent destination for art lovers wanting to understand the development of Indian art from the point of its history, chronology, movements, periods, regions, or genres. It was an art history lesson brought to life and was thronged by visitors. Special talks were organised at the booth. A 332-page catalogue was specially published for the fair and remains a compendium of India’s greatest artists ever. A. A. Almelkar A. A. Raiba A. D. Tavaria A. M. Davierwalla Abalall Rahiman Abanindranath Tagore Akbar Padamsee Altaf Amalnath Chakladhar Ambadas Amitava Aroomoogam Pillay Arpana Caur Avinash Chandra B. C. Law B. Prabha Badri Nath Arya Bal Chhabda Benjamin Hudson Benode Behari Mukherjee Bhupen Khakkar Bijan Choudhary Bikash Bhattacharjee Bimal Dasgupta Bipin Behari Goswami Biren De Bireswar Sen Chintamoni Kar Chittaprosad D. P. Roy Chowdhury Dhanraj Bhagat Dharamanarayan Dasgupta Early Bengal Oil (Anonymous) F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Gaganendranath Tagore Ganesh Haloi Ganesh Pyne George Keyt Gieve Patel Gogi Saroj Pal Gopal Ghose H. A. Gade Haren Das Hemanta Misra Hemendranath Majumdar Henry Singleton Himmat Shah Indra Dugar J. Sultan Ali J. Swaminthan Jacob Epstein Jamini Roy Jeram Patel Jogen Chowdhury Jyoti Bhatt K. C. S. Panicker K. G. Subramanyan K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud K. S. Kulkarni Kalighat Pat Kanwal Krishna Khagen Roy Kisory Roy Krishen Khanna Kshitindranath Majumdar L. Munuswamy L. N. Taskar L. P. Shaw Laxman Pai M. A. R. Chughtai M. F. Husain M. F. Pithawalla M. V. Dhurandhar Manjit Bawa Manu Parekh Meera Mukherjee Mohan Samant N. R. Sardesai N. S. Bendre Nandalal Bose Nemai Ghosh Nikhil Biswas P. Chander Sheker P. Khemraj P. T. Reddy P. V. Janakiram Paritosh Sen Pestonji E. Bomanji Portrait (Anonymous) Prabhakar Barwe Prodosh Das Gupta Prokash Karmakar Prosanto Roy R. Vijaivargiya Rabin Mondal Rabindranath Tagore Radha Charan Bagchi Raghav Kaneria Raja Ravi Varma Ram Kumar Ramendranath Chakravorty Rameshwar Broota Ramkinkar Baij Ravi Varma School (Anonymous) S. Dhanapal S. G. Thakur Singh S. H. Raza S. L. Haldankar S.K. Bakre Sailoz Mukherjea Sankho Choudhuri Satish Gujral Shiavax Chavda Shyamal Dutta Ray Sohan Qadri Somnath Hore Suhas Roy Sunil Das Sunil Madhav Sen Thomas Daniell Tyeb Mehta V. Nageshkar V. S. Gaitonde Ved Nayar

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Often described as ‘Poetry in Stone’, the Taj Mahal was laid out between 1631-43 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is the architectural elements of the Taj complex that grab the most attention, but in fact the garden is the heart of the complex . The visitors today are so transfixed by the Taj itself that they remember very little of the garden. DAG Archive attempts to illustrate the  life and ‘afterlife’ of the Taj gardens, once its control was taken over by the British. This archive deep dive showcases the objects from A. E. P. Griessen’s (1875–1935) collection.

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