well, i returned last night from the washington dc trip. 3 other profs and myself took a group of students down there for an overnight adventure to check out some art, of course.
i saw a few exhibitions that sparked my interest. i sorta think i may have seen a bit too much art recently with all of my travels. i say this because it seems to be becoming more and more difficult to get me excited about the works..
but nonetheless, garden and cosmos: the royal paintings of jodhpur was able to seriously spark my interest!
the following was taken from the exhibition description:This groundbreaking exhibition of newly discovered Indian paintings from the royal court collection of Marwar-Jodhpur (in the modern state of Rajasthan) has three sections devoted to the garden and cosmos leitmotifs, with an introductory gallery about the kingdom of Marwar-Jodhpur and the origins of its court painting traditions in the 17th century. Produced for the private enjoyment of the Marwar- Jodhpur maharajas, virtually none of the 60 works on view in "Garden and Cosmos" have ever been published or seen by scholars since their creation centuries ago. Strikingly innovative in their large scale, subject matter, and styles, they reveal both the conceptual sophistication of the royal atelier and the kingdom's engagement with the changing political landscapes of early modern India.
The bold inventiveness of Marwar-Jodhpur artists is revealed through their creation of “monumental manuscripts.” Thirty-three monumental folios, each a full-page painting approximately four feet in width, are featured in the exhibition. Like most north Indian court paintings, they are glowing and finely detailed opaque watercolors on paper, but their scale dramatically overturns typical expectations of Indian painting as a “miniature” art.
unfortunately, the reproduced images do not do this work justice by any means. the tiny minute details that are captured within each of these large scale gouache paintings are astounding. just standing in front of these works was a religious experance. this exhibition alone made this trip worth while for me.
after the washington venue the work will travel to the seattle art museum, the british museum and national museum of india so perhaps you can see them for yourself. if you live any where near these museums you should make a trip to see this work it is simply amazing.
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