Preserving/presenting South Asia's culture in Britain

[Guest guest]

Monday July 21 2003 00:00 IST

 

Preserving and presenting South Asia's culture in Britain

 

IANS

newindiapress.com

The India collection at the British Museum in London ranges from tiny

bronze coins to huge stone sculptures weighing several tonnes and is

spread over three separate departments - Asia (sculpture and

paintings), Ethnography (everyday life and costume) and Coins and

Medals (currency and commemorative items).

 

Sculpture, paintings, metalwork and textiles - all of these and much

more are displayed in the galleries, or housed in the reserve

collections and available to the public to view by appointment.

 

There is no charge for entry and the permanent displays and temporary

exhibitions are, for many of the five million visitors who come to

the museum each year, the first way in which they experience the

richness of Indian culture.

 

These remarkable Indian collections are, for the most part, displayed

in the largest single gallery in the museum, the Hotung Gallery.

 

This impressive space was refurbished in 1992 and provides an

opportunity for visitors to view the material culture, especially the

religious sculpture, of the subcontinent from the prehistoric period,

right up to the 20th century.

 

The Hotung Gallery houses the main displays of Hindu, Buddhist and

Jain sculptures from the subcontinent, while the culture of Indo-

Islamic India appears in a nearby, but different space, the John

Addis Gallery. Here, the magnificent achievements of epigraphers,

jewellers, metal-smiths and hard stone carvers from the courts of the

Islamic rulers of India are exhibited.

 

Temporary exhibitions are an enriching opportunity to understand the

variety of South Asian culture, and subjects from the subcontinent

are frequently in the programme.

 

In September this year there will be an exhibition of Tibetan

paintings from the Hahn Kwang-ho collection, while previous topics

have included the art of Hinduism, Mughal jewellery (this later

travelled to the Metropolitan Museum in New York), Indian folk art,

the art of South India, modern hand woven brocade textiles, and the

Indian paintings from the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan.

 

Many of these exhibitions were accompanied by catalogues or books.

These, and many others on related topics, are available through the

museum's own publication company, British Museum Press, which

publishes some 70 new titles each year, many on Asian subjects.

 

The large holdings reflect the civilisation of all of South Asia, and

in this context, the cultures of rural India are considered as

important as the sophisticated cultures of urban centres.

Archaeological material includes objects from the Indus Valley

Civilisation dated to c.2,500-2,000 B.C.

 

The rise and spread of Buddhism and Jainism, as well as the

development of Hinduism are all represented in the collections

through sculpture. One of the greatest groups, from the Buddhist

stupa at Amaravati, dates from the first centuries A.D., and entered

the museum in 1880.

 

Sculpture from temple contexts, and smaller bronze, and indeed wood

and ivory, sculptures from all over India record the accomplishments

of the medieval and pre-modern artists, as well as documenting the

influence of India on Southeast and Eastern Asia, through trade and

the spread of Indian religions.

 

Amongst the medieval sculpture from India, the Bridge Collection,

acquired in India in the early 19th century, provides spectacular

examples in stone from eastern and central India.

 

Paintings range in date and format from the 12th century palm-leaves

and book-covers of eastern India, right up to modern works. The

Mughal and Deccani paintings as well as those from the courts of

Rajasthan are exceptionally fine, while those from the later Pahari

centres are also significant.

 

However, less well-known varieties are also housed here, such as

South Indian iconographic paintings, Bengal story-telling paintings,

East India Company paintings, Orissa pilgrimage paintings and prints,

Kalighat paintings, and paintings produced for the Nagapanchami

festival.

 

Paintings on cloth, such as pichwai, kalamkari and chintz also find a

place in this part of the collection. Generally, paintings are not on

permanent display because of lack of space and on account of the

fragility of the materials.

 

The South Asia collections though are not only concerned with the

past, and the work of contemporary artists is eagerly added to the

collections so that in the future, we can speak authoritatively about

Indian culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Paintings and prints

by artists from studios, as well as from tribal and rural

backgrounds, are actively sought out for the collections.

 

Examples of work by modern masters such as Rabindranath Tagore as

well as living artists such as Laxma Goud, Krishna Reddy and Bhupen

Khakhar are already in the collections.

 

Thus we aim to present the cultures of South Asia to an international

as well as a national audience, enhancing the understanding of world

cultures.

 

This mission is exceptionally important in the world today and while

there is always more to develop, especially in the fields of

education and display, the museum, in its 250th year, is determined

to continue the provision of varied opportunities to engage with one

of the great civilisations of the world.