Page 1. The Triumph of Modernism India's artists and the avant-garde 1922-1947 P... more Page 1. The Triumph of Modernism India's artists and the avant-garde 1922-1947 Partha Mitter i Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. Page 6. This richly illustrated book explores the contested history oI art and nationalism in the tumultuous last decades of British rule in India. ...
As the title makes clear, the thrust of my argument relates to colonial India, which is my own pa... more As the title makes clear, the thrust of my argument relates to colonial India, which is my own particular field of study. I take up the story of Punch’s progress and spread throughout the subcontinent. Punch was turned into an effective weapon of political resistance and social criticism by the Indian followers of the English magazine in a way not envisaged by its creators. Yet this is not the entire story. Punch exemplifies the wider question of how a concept or technology originating in one culture undergoes transformations of meaning and inflection subsequent to its introduction in a culturally different society. This perennial question assumes special urgency during the high tide of imperialism, which represents the first great phase of globalisation. Therefore, in order to pose general questions about the nature and mechanism of transfers of ideas and technologies across cultures, and their impact on those who receive them, one needs to shift the discussion over to the debate on globalisation. The urgency of this debate is underscored by the concern of this publication to discuss Punch as a transcultural phenomenon. Within this remit, my own analysis is informed by the fact that while post-colonial studies have led the field in uncovering the Western agenda in its analysis of the world colonial order, recent critics have recognised the need for greater nuances in studies of the period of high imperialism. As a new publication puts it in its study of the period 1880s–1940s, a period that includes the career of Punch:
This project is co-directed by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (Department of Art History, University of D... more This project is co-directed by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (Department of Art History, University of Delaware) and J.Ritchie Garrison (Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, University of Delaware). The following videos are from the events taken place at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, October 12-14, 2018. (https://sites.udel.edu/globalaestheticasiaamerica/) How do design ideas, patterns, and aesthetics travel across the globe, even when objects themselves do not? This project’s question grew out of a string of provocative inquiries that emerged following exhibitions and recent projects that our alumni and faculty members of the University of Delaware have worked on over the past 10 years (Collecting China [UD-Winterthur, DE], Asia in Amsterdam [PEM, MA], Made for the Americas [MFA Boston, MA], among others). While existing scholarship has recognized the global circulation of objects, artistic forms in the American field sometimes have less to do with the mobility of act...
Mitter Partha. Sublime and Picturesque: The Landscape of Regret: Sarah Tiffin, Southeast Asia in ... more Mitter Partha. Sublime and Picturesque: The Landscape of Regret: Sarah Tiffin, Southeast Asia in Ruins: Art and Empire in the Early 19th Century, Singapore, National University of Singapore Press et Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2016. In: Arts asiatiques, tome 74, 2019. pp. 177-180
I shall not dwell much on the style and quality of Tagore’s paintings. Instead I would like to be... more I shall not dwell much on the style and quality of Tagore’s paintings. Instead I would like to begin with a passage that Professor K. G. Subramanyan once wrote: To most of my generation, talking about Tagore does not come easy. Because to us Rabindranath was more than just a person. He was to us a compelling symbol, a symbol of India’s cultural regeneration. For me personally, and I presume for a number of Indian artists, the work of Rabindranath came like a breath of fresh air.1
Page 1. The Triumph of Modernism India's artists and the avant-garde 1922-1947 P... more Page 1. The Triumph of Modernism India's artists and the avant-garde 1922-1947 Partha Mitter i Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. Page 6. This richly illustrated book explores the contested history oI art and nationalism in the tumultuous last decades of British rule in India. ...
As the title makes clear, the thrust of my argument relates to colonial India, which is my own pa... more As the title makes clear, the thrust of my argument relates to colonial India, which is my own particular field of study. I take up the story of Punch’s progress and spread throughout the subcontinent. Punch was turned into an effective weapon of political resistance and social criticism by the Indian followers of the English magazine in a way not envisaged by its creators. Yet this is not the entire story. Punch exemplifies the wider question of how a concept or technology originating in one culture undergoes transformations of meaning and inflection subsequent to its introduction in a culturally different society. This perennial question assumes special urgency during the high tide of imperialism, which represents the first great phase of globalisation. Therefore, in order to pose general questions about the nature and mechanism of transfers of ideas and technologies across cultures, and their impact on those who receive them, one needs to shift the discussion over to the debate on globalisation. The urgency of this debate is underscored by the concern of this publication to discuss Punch as a transcultural phenomenon. Within this remit, my own analysis is informed by the fact that while post-colonial studies have led the field in uncovering the Western agenda in its analysis of the world colonial order, recent critics have recognised the need for greater nuances in studies of the period of high imperialism. As a new publication puts it in its study of the period 1880s–1940s, a period that includes the career of Punch:
This project is co-directed by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (Department of Art History, University of D... more This project is co-directed by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (Department of Art History, University of Delaware) and J.Ritchie Garrison (Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, University of Delaware). The following videos are from the events taken place at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, October 12-14, 2018. (https://sites.udel.edu/globalaestheticasiaamerica/) How do design ideas, patterns, and aesthetics travel across the globe, even when objects themselves do not? This project’s question grew out of a string of provocative inquiries that emerged following exhibitions and recent projects that our alumni and faculty members of the University of Delaware have worked on over the past 10 years (Collecting China [UD-Winterthur, DE], Asia in Amsterdam [PEM, MA], Made for the Americas [MFA Boston, MA], among others). While existing scholarship has recognized the global circulation of objects, artistic forms in the American field sometimes have less to do with the mobility of act...
Mitter Partha. Sublime and Picturesque: The Landscape of Regret: Sarah Tiffin, Southeast Asia in ... more Mitter Partha. Sublime and Picturesque: The Landscape of Regret: Sarah Tiffin, Southeast Asia in Ruins: Art and Empire in the Early 19th Century, Singapore, National University of Singapore Press et Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2016. In: Arts asiatiques, tome 74, 2019. pp. 177-180
I shall not dwell much on the style and quality of Tagore’s paintings. Instead I would like to be... more I shall not dwell much on the style and quality of Tagore’s paintings. Instead I would like to begin with a passage that Professor K. G. Subramanyan once wrote: To most of my generation, talking about Tagore does not come easy. Because to us Rabindranath was more than just a person. He was to us a compelling symbol, a symbol of India’s cultural regeneration. For me personally, and I presume for a number of Indian artists, the work of Rabindranath came like a breath of fresh air.1
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