art history

The 1940s were a turning point in Modern Indian art - the freedom movement in India had gained feverish momentum; the growing communal disharmony in India was pointing to a violent partition with the...

When Lord Curzon announced the the decision to partition Bengal  in 1905, little did he know it would lead to the rise of the first "Swadeshi" movement. The movement used the weapon of swadeshi or indigenousness...

Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi , a global icon for peace was assassinated on January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Godse, sending an entire nation into shock, disbelief & grief. As India  remembers 'bapu' in significant...

Jamini Roy, Tagore and a sholapith - terracotta Durga are essential to every Bengali household and my grandparents' home wasn't any different. Of all the three, I found Jamini Roy's art to be most...

It is ironic how art is so gendered and presumably “female” and yet somehow, if you were asked to name 5 women artists, you’d struggle. March is the month where every brand, every advertisement...

Jesuit missionaries were the first group of Europeans to visit the Mughal court. They initially arrived at the Portuguese colony of Goa in 1542; at the invitation of Akbar (r. 1556-1605), there were altogether...

Visiting the Mahabalipuram group of monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was on my bucket list and I finally got to put a check against it.  The group of monuments have served as backdrop for classical dance...

Republished with Permission from Rama Arya's Blog A nondescript placard on the wall reads: “Buddhist Stupa, 2nd Century BC, Bharhut, Madhya Pradesh.” I turn around and almost knock into a magnificent red sandstone 9-feet high railing...