Description
In the Realm of Gods and Kings. Arts of India
Topsfield, Andrew (Coordenação / Editor)
Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, 2013
Paperback 416pp Illustrated 23.5 x 3.3 x 28.1 cm
ISBN 9781781300145
Language: English
This updated and finely produced edition of the 2004 exhibition catalogue celebrates Indian art from 1000 BCE to the 20th century. The images of the sculpture, painting, manuscripts and decorative arts created for the courts and temples of India combine with photographs of Sadhus to illustrate the diversity of style and culture that has emanated from the sub-continent over the last 1,000 years. Each spread has the object or image accompanied by authoritative and detailed explanations of its cultural significance and history.
Each work is fully illustrated and most of these works have not been previously published. The book also includes short background essays describing aspects of Indian life related to the works. This book accompanies an exhibiton of selections from the Polsky Collection and the Metropolitan Museum at the Asia Society, New York. This volume celebrates the wealth and diversity of the arts of India created for the life of courts and temples from 1000 BC to the twentieth century. Paintings, objects and photographs, ranging in date from the second century BC to the late twentieth century, reflect the variety and continuity of India’s aesthetic traditions. Andrew Topsfield, the editor, has contributed background essays describing aspects of Indian life related to the themes explored in the book: The Sacred Realm: Nature, Temple, Gods, Goddesses, Saint and Sadhus; The Court: Courtly Life, The Hunt, Royal Portraits, Couples and Women, Courtly Manuscripts. Catalogue entries by experts in the field comment on narrative episodes from the epics, iconographic symbolism, religious, as well as social and contextual references related to the works shown. An extensive and authoritative essay by Dr. Vishakha Desai, ‘The Experience of Creativity in Indian Art’, is included as well as an essay by Cynthia Hazen Polsky, ‘To Beckon the Modern Eye’.
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