This richly illustrated catalogue brings forth a fine collection of the Company style of paintings from five significant institutes of India: National Museum, New Delhi: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi; Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata; and Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata. The catalogue highlights the continuation of the Indian artistic ethos of developing synergies between diverse artistic practices while maintaining its distinction. Showcasing more than two hundred paintings, the catalogue presents array of artworks, many of which have not been seen previously.
The catalogue is divided into eleven sections - Splendid Indian Maharajas; Indian Aristocrats; Europeans in India; European Print and Indian Painting; Many Paths, One Reality; Indian Deities, Processions and Ceremonies; Trades and Professions; Vignettes of Everyday Life; Portraitures of Women; Indian Architecture; and Studies of the Natural World. These sections are grouped under three broad themes - Elite, Ethnography, and Empirical Studies. Overall, the catalogue is a visual memoir that will take its reader on a journey of the culturally vivid and diverse period of nineteenth-century India.
I am delighted to present this richly illustrated catalogue published to accompany the exhibition "Company Painting: Visual Memoirs of Nineteenth-Century India." The exhibition and publication bring forth a significant collection of nineteenth-century paintings done by Indian artists from the rich repository of the National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumtaz Mahal Museum of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, Victoria Memorial Hall and Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata.
In recent times, the world over, there has been much interest in the exciting array of artworks produced during the period of the eighteenth-nineteenth century India. These paintings are fascinating as they give us a glimpse into the India that existed during the times of the East India Company and the subsequent British Raj. Not only do these paintings narrate the transitional journey of India into the modern period, but they also exhibit the ability of Indian artists to adapt to complex historical situations. The widely established and used term for paintings of this period and style is Company Painting. However, I believe this term needs a reconsideration.
While there have been considerable publications on Company Paintings globally, the Indian collections of this period have been less explored. This book is a commendable effort to get together these works from various collections, many paintings being brought out for the first time.
As a student of history, I believe the distinctiveness of the paintings of this period deserves further investigation. I am glad the Department of History of Art, National Museum Institute, and National Museum bring forth the exhibition with this comprehensive catalogue of paintings, as an attempt to open this art-historical period for further discourse and research. A virtual exhibition also accompanies the physical display, that takes the collection to a wider audience, making it accessible specially during pandemic times. From portraits, processions, ceremonies to Indian architecture and natural history drawings and ethnographic studies of Indian life, the collection covers a broad spectrum of themes.
With the coming together of various institutions for this project, I hope the momentum continues with more dialogue and collaboration in the future among them. Above all, with this effort, I hope we are channelled into a promising future of Indian cultural and academic excellence.
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