South Asian Art

Catalog description

The Buddha seated in deep meditation having renounced all desires; Shiva performing his cosmic dance in a ring of fire or a Mughal emperor seated in his court in all his regal splendor are some of the most reverberating and paradoxical motifs of South Asian art. The course offers a survey and analysis of the aesthetic diversity of art from South Asia within a historical and socio-cultural perspective. Much of what we understand as art today are relics of the past, icons of devotion or objects of decorative and everyday use. Through the medium of sculpture, paintings, illustrated manuscripts, calligraphy and architecture the course will help to cultivate an art historical vocabulary, explain the visual symbolism, discover the language of sacred and ritual representations, and underscore the power of myths and narratives which give life to these motifs. Covering a broad time period- from the pre-historic to the 19th century the course will focus upon select themes of South Asian art. In the process, the course will address questions of representations of body, landscapes, image making, patronage, individual artists and their styles, materials, techniques and aesthetic turns.