Indian paintings often depict a complete world, a world constructed rather than depicted realistically and sometimes a completely imaginary one. Divided thematically into religious, romantic, musical, and courtly subjects, the paintings in this book provide glimpses into some of the many worlds painted by Rajput and Mughal artists in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Many delighted in verdant nature, in a court- yard garden, or in a lush forest after the monsoon. The sixty-one paintings in Pleasure Gardens of the Mind reveal various scenes as they appeared before the mind's eye of the artist: a shy Radha approaching Krishna; a lover tearing through the woods to a tryst in the night; a ragini dancing in the forest amid musical accompanists; a prince on a tiger hunt.
Pleasure Gardens of the Mind documents an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art chosen from the collection of Jane Greenough Green to demonstrate some of the richness and stylistic variety of the Indian pictorial tradition. The book begins with a brief over- view of Indian painting, followed by the four thematic groupings. Sectional introductions discuss the nature of religious paintings, pictures of human and divine lovers, musical modes given visible form, and the painted worlds of courtiers and kings. Individual entries describe the subject and style and discuss the dates and locations of each painting's production. Rather than merely presenting a chronology of styles or schools, the book's thematic organization assists in understanding subjects unique in Indian art as well as how subjects found in many painting traditions, such as pictures of animals, were expressed in various Indian schools.
DR. PRATAPADITYA PAL is senior curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; he is the author or editor of forty volumes on South Asian art and over the last twenty years has organized numerous important exhibitions. He was recently honored by the Association of Indians in America for his contribution to better Indo- American understanding.
DR. JANICE LEOSHKO is associate curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Especially concerned with eastern Indian sculpture, she edited and contributed to the volume Bodhgaya: The Site of Enlightenment.
DR. STEPHEN MARKEL is assistant curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A specialist in later Indian decorative arts, he recently edited and coauthored The World of Jade.
All three were co-curators of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's 1989 exhibition Romance of the Taj Mahal and co-authors of the accompanying book.
In 1973 the museum organized and circulated a small exhibition titled Indian Paintings from Staff Collections. In the preface to that catalogue I wrote, "It is especially gratifying to note that four staff members of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art have become avid collectors of Indian painting in the last three years." The temporal reference was to the museum's acquisition of the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection in 1969. One of the four staff members who lent anonymously then was Jane Greenough Green Until her retirement in 1975 Mrs. Green was the museum's slide librarian.
Although we do learn from some collectors why they collect, we do not always know the circumstance or conjunction of stars that triggers a person's collecting, but in Mrs. Green's case we do know precisely. In 1970 the museum mounted a major exhibition of its new treasure trove of Indian art, and it was while viewing this exhibition that Mrs. Green, along with a number of other staff members, caught the bug. She subsequently proved to be the most acquisitive and has assembled a fine group of pictures, which now she is graciously sharing with the rest of us. I know of no other instance in the museum world where staff members became so inspired by an acquisition and an exhibition that they developed into passionate collectors. Fortunately, Mrs. Green could indulge in her new avocation because she has a supportive spouse. She did most of her collecting sitting in Los Angeles rather than chasing the objects all around the world.
In the 1970s it was still possible to collect Indian paintings with relative case. For one thing prices were reasonable-and still are-compared with those of European paintings, and for another many more fine pictures were available then. This was particularly true of Rajput paintings, which is why Mrs. Green concentrated on them rather than on the more popular and more expensive Mughal paintings.
catalogue and the exhibition it accompanies are part of an active program that seeks to enrich our understanding of diverse artistic traditions. Pleasure Gardens of the Mind consists of sixty-one Indian paintings from the collection of Jane Greenough Green. These works date from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century and complement the museum's permanent holdings, which include a renowned collection of South Asian art. All three curators in the department of Indian and Southeast Asian Art-Pratapaditya Pal, Stephen Markel, and Janice Leoshko-have participated in writing this catalogue, which, like the exhibition, presents the paintings in thematic groups. Their approach identifies distinctive subjects found only in Indian painting as well as those that are shared with other traditions, and it provides a broad context for appreciating the visual delights of these works.
The museum is grateful to Jane Greenough Green, a former member of its staff, who began her collection as the direct result of Dr. Pal's infectious enthusiasm and his success in building a great collection of Indian art. This exhibition is a special kind of celebration, documenting a specific case of the museum's effect upon those who view its permanent collections. We thank Mrs. Green for this opportunity to share her works with the public, and we gratefully acknowledge her generous gift of selected pictures to the muscum. This exhibition and Mrs. Green's gifts of works of art to our collection completes the cycle of mutual benefit and growth that began here more than two decades ago.
The Indian paintings (often wrongly characterized as miniatures) discussed in this volume were created mostly by unknown artists between about 1550 and about 1850. The patrons of these works of art also are by and large unknown as individuals. In general, however, they were members of ruling families and courtiers, of both sexes, Hindus as well as Muslims. In fact, the role of women patrons in Indian painting is yet to be properly assessed. Over three decades ago William Archer, noting the power of Indian painting to charm both sexes, guardedly stated that while Indian women also viewed it, it owed "its origins to masculine stimulus." Although the evidence is not abundant, there is little doubt that women too patronized the various arts, including painting. A well-known instance is Princess Jahanara, the eldest daughter of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.
The paintings in the Green collection consist mostly of book illustrations and folios from albums. Small in scale, like European watercolors or Japanese prints, they are easily portable. Therefore, a series or picture found in one court may have been made somewhere else (no. 12). They were never hung up on walls, but held in hand and viewed intimately In fact, the patron usually held a painting at the same oblique angle when viewing as the artist did when painting it. When not being looked at, the pictures were bundled up and stored in libraries or special storerooms in the palace or mansion. They were, therefore, well shielded from light, which is one reason why some of the pictures, although three or more centuries old, are remarkably well preserved. (In some cases where the storage conditions were less than ideal, the pictures were adversely affected.)
**Contents and Sample Pages**
For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist