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From the Earthly World to the Realm of Gods: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Collection of Indian Drawings (Hardback)

From the Earthly World to the Realm of Gods: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Collection of Indian Drawings (Hardback)

Ratan Parimoo
5500 5500 (0% off)
ISBN 13
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9788192848716
Year
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2018
Kasturbhai Lalbhai Collection of Indian Art in Ahmedabad has a great historical importance besides the quality of the art objects and their range. A Part of this art collection is deposited as gift at the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, comprising of over 1855 drawings and unfinished paintings,representing most of the schools of Indian Miniature paintings. The collection was formed by the famous painter brothers Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) and Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) in Calcutta, initially in collaboration with E B Havell (1861-1934) who initiated the Revival of Indian Art during the first decade of the 20th century. A large number of drawings and paintings were obtained from a traditional artist in Patna as recorded by Ananda Coomaraswamy who published fifteen of them along with drawings from his own collection in 1910. Inspired by the nationalistic sentiments for the arts around the beginning of the 20th century, the creative activities and the collecting enthusiasm of the two artists were intimately related and one nourished the other. E B Havell as principal of the School of Art and Craft in Calcutta had set an example by establishing a full-fledged 'Indian Art Gallery' as part of his art institution replacing the copies of European art with original Indian paintings, stone sculptures,metal objects and textiles. Several British and European sympathizers had collaborated with E B Havell as well as Abanindranath and Gaganendranath, who put together their collective energies towards the improvement of artists' training as well as concerning appreciation of India's newly discovered art heritage. It was in such a stimulating atmosphere that in 1909 young Ananda Coomaraswamy joined the revivalist activities centered around the Tagore house-hold in Kolkata. Ananda Coomaraswamy not only expanded his own collection, but he also shared and influenced the selections made by Tagore brothers in their art collection. Eventually this prestigious Indian Art collection was offered to Shri Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the leading industrialist and philanthropist of Ahmedabad where the great collection was shifted in around 1940. In this book a selection of approximately 450 drawings, has been taken up which are classified in terms of schools and styles, exploring identification of provenance and themes of concerned drawings. The human world has divisions such as ordinary people at work known as 'trades' or 'occupations' involving human skills and technology, very intrinsic to daily survival, and a part of civilizational growth of mankind. Next segment is devoted to scenes of entertainment,such as music performances along with which we are included Ragamala painting, followed by other human activities namely festivals, marriage processions, etc. Next section then takes up likenesses of ordinary persons but specific human beings and culminates with portraits of dignitaries, Kings, Nawabs, who have risenin their status of lkpower in the material physicalworld, and who are also the lpatrons of art. These are divided into three units, (1) Mughal dynasty Kings,(ii) Nawabs and Hindu aristocrats from Murshidabad, (iii) Hindu and Sikh rulers. Images of Sufis and episodes from the lives of religious saints such as Guru Nanak (JanamSakhi), Shri Chaitanya and Vallabhacharya provide a transitional phase towards the segment dealing with the spiritual world of the gods. The section on the world of gods including Hindu mythology, is subdivided into Vaishnava themes, Ramayana, Vishnu/Krishna, Shaiva themes and the folios illustrating Devi killing demons. The last section is something like a climax of the book dealing with the power of feminine divinity. These drawings give us an insight into the working of IndianArtists' mind and creativity. This amazing collection of Indian drawings is aesthetically much comparable to the very famous drawings of the European Old Masers of the Renaissance period. Detail of the book 540p., (520)col. illus., appendices, 34x25cm