ASIAN HUMANITIES (AHUM) MASTERPIECES OF INDIAN ART & ARCHITECTURE V3342 Fall 2002 Monday/Wednesday 2:40-3:55 pm 612 Schermerhorn Hall

Transcription

1 ASIAN HUMANITIES (AHUM) MASTERPIECES OF INDIAN ART & ARCHITECTURE V3342 Fall 2002 Monday/Wednesday 2:40-3:55 pm 612 Schermerhorn Hall Prof. Vidya Dehejia Schermerhorn Hall ( ) Office Hours: Wednesday 11-1pm Overview This lecture course offers an introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. It is divided into four discrete segments devoted to the art of Buddhism, the emergence and development of the Hindu temple, art under India s Islamic rulers, and the art of colonial and post-colonial India. It focuses on architectural sites, sculptures, painted manuscripts, paintings, and photography. Lectures and readings provide a contextual framework for understanding the material. Class discussions and assignments are intended to encourage students to bring their own ways of looking at this art, to read critically in light of what they see, and to consider new approaches to the material. Readings: Recommended purchase: Vidya Dehejia, Indian Art (Phaidon Press: London, 1997), available at Labyrinth Books on West 112 th, between Broadway and Amsterdam. A Xerox packet for the course is available at The Village Copier, W 115 th St (between Broadway and Riverside). All readings will be on reserve at Avery Library. Requirements. There will be a mid-term, and a final. There will also be two off-site assignments. Early in the semester, you should visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Asia Society, or the Brooklyn Museum, where you will choose an object which you will explore in a paper (4-6 pages) that is due on November 1st. In the second half of the semester, you will visit either the Mosque at 96 th Street or the Ganesha temple in Queens (you will be asked to draw a detailed plan of the building you visit). Grading Readings and class participation: 20 % Drawing and object paper: 30% -- Mid-term: 25 % Final: 25% 1

2 September 4: Introduction: Art, Artist/craftsman, Priests, and Patronage Buddhist Art & Architecture September 9: Ashokan columns Readings: Vidya Dehejia, Indian Art, chapters 1, 2 (Avery only). Romila Thapar, A Translation of the Edicts of Asoka (reader) September 11: The Buddhist Stupa: Sanchi Readings: Vidya Dehejia, Indian Art, chapter 3. Kevin Trainor, Constructing a Buddhist Ritual Site: Stupa and Monastery Architecture (reader) September 16: The aniconic Buddha in the narrative reliefs of Sanchi Readings: Dehejia, Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems (reader) September 18: The Introduction of the Buddha Image Readings: Dehejia, chapter 4. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Origin of the Buddha Image (reader). September 23: Early Buddhist Caves Readings: Dehejia, chapter 5. September 25: The monastic complex of Ajanta Readings: Walter Spink, Ajanta: A Brief History and Guide (reader) September 30: The Paintings at Ajanta Readings: Study line drawings in Dehejia, Narrative Modes in Ajanta Cave 17: A Preliminary Study. (reader). For visuals look at the reproductions in Benoy Behl, The Ajanta Caves (Avery only) The Indian Temple October 2: The temple and the concept of darshan Readings: Dehejia, chapter 6. Recommended: Diana Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, chapters 1 & 2. (Avery) October 7: Cave-temple of Elephanta and the rock-cut Kailasa temple Readings: Dehejia, last section of chapter 5. George Michell, The architecture of Elephanta: An Interpretation. (reader). For pictures, look at the book itself, Elephanta: The Cave of Shiva (Avery). 2

3 October 9 & October 14: The temples of Khajuraho and their erotic imagery Readings: Dehejia, chapter 7. Michael Meister, Juncture and Conjunction: Punning and Temple Architecture (reader). Devangana Desai, Puns and Enigmatic Language in Sculpture (reader). October 16: Mid-term exam October 21: The Mystery that is Mamallapuram Readings: Dehejia, chapter 8. Marilyn Hirsch Mahendravarman I Pallava: Artist and Patron of Mamallapuram (reader) October 23: Mamallapuram: the great relief and the art of double entendre Readings: Padma Kaimal Playful Ambiguity and Political Authority in the Large Relief at Mamallapuram (reader). October 28: The Chola temple and its bronzes Readings: Dehejia chapter 9. October 30: The Expanded temples of South India Readings: Dehejia, chapter 10. November 4: Holiday November 6: Class cancelled Art after the advent of Islam November 11: The Qutb mosque and minar in Delhi Readings: Dehejia, chapter 11. Oleg Grabar, Islamic Relgious Art: The Mosque (reader) Assignment Students will make their own trips either to the 96 th St mosque or to the Ganesha temple in Flushing, Queens. Draw a detailed plan of the Mosque or Temple. Number each part of the plan and, on an attached sheet, provide the name and corresponding to each numbered part s function or significance. In addition, write a page on your experience of either Mosque or Temple. The Ganesha Temple can be reached by taking the No. 7 subway from Times Square to the end of the line (Main Street stop). From there, take the Q27 bus (5-10 mins) to the stop just before Bowne St. From there you will see the temple s main gopuram gateway. 3

4 November 13: Understanding Mughal Painting: Safavid Iran and pre-mughal Jain painting Readings: John Seyller, The Formation of the Mughal Style (reader). See pictures in Stuart Cary Welch, A King s Book of Kings (Avery) and Darielle Mason, Intimate Worlds, Plates 1-12 (Avery). November 18: Akbar and Mughal painting: The Hamza Nama and the Akbar Nama Readings: Dehejia, ch. 13 for background. For visuals see John Seyller, The Adventures of Hamza (Avery) and Geeti Sen, Paintings from the Akbar Nama (Avery). November 20: A Mewari and popular Mughal Ramayana: narrative structures Readings: J. Losty, Sahib Din s Book of Battles: Rana Jagat Singh s Yuddhakanda (reader). For visuals, see John Seyller, Workshop and Patron in Mughal India (Avery). November 25: The Taj Mahal Readings: Wayne Begley, The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of its Symbolic Meaning (reader). Elizabeth Moynihan, Reflections of Paradise in The Moonlight Garden: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal (Avery). November 27: Painting in the Himalayan Foothills: the Basohli and Kangra styles Readings: Terence McInerney, Mysterious Origins: The Tantric Devi Series from Basohli (reader). The Colonial Period & After December 2: British Artists in India: In Search of the Picturesque & the advent of photography Readings: Dehejia, chapter16 for background. G.H.R. Tillotson, The Indian Picturesque: Images of India in British Landscape Painting, (reader). Recommended: Dehejia, Fixing a Shadow (reader) in India Through the Lens: Photography (Avery for visuals). December 4: Class cancelled December 5 (make-up): British Art Schools, Raja Ravi Varma, and Modernism Readings: Partha Mitter, The Artist as Charismatic Individual: Raja Ravi Varma (reader). Partha Mitter, Modernism in India (reader). December 9: Art after Independence Readings: Partha Mitter, Art after Independence (reader). Partha Mitter, The Contemporary Scene (reader) 4

5 Table of Contents Syllabus order (unnumbered pages) 1 Romila Thapar, A Translation of the Edicts of Asoka 2 Kevin Trainor, Constructing a Buddhist Ritual Site: Stupa and Monastery Architecture 3 Dehejia, Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems 4 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Origin of the Buddha Image 5 Walter Spink, Ajanta: A Brief History and Guide (reader) 6 Dehejia, Narrative Modes in Ajanta Cave 17: A Preliminary Study. 7 George Michell, The architecture of Elephanta: An Interpretation. 8 Michael Meister, Juncture and Conjunction: Punning and Temple Architecture 9 Devangana Desai, Puns and Enigmatic Language in Sculpture 10 Marilyn Hirsch Mahendravarman I Pallava: Artist and Patron of Mamallapuram 11 Padma Kaimal Playful Ambiguity and Political Authority in the Large Relief at Mamallapuram 12 Oleg Grabar, Islamic Relgious Art: The Mosque 13 John Seyller, The Formation of the Mughal Style 14 J. Losty, Sahib Din s Book of Battles: Rana Jagat Singh s Yuddhakanda 15 Wayne Begley, The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of its Symbolic Meaning 16 Terence McInerney, Mysterious Origins: The Tantric Devi Series from Basohli 17 G.H.R. Tillotson, The Indian Picturesque: Images of India in British Landscape Painting, Partha Mitter, The Artist as Charismatic Individual: Raja Ravi Varma & Modernism in India. 19 Partha Mitter, Art after Independence & The Contemporary Scene 5