Introduction / Allysa B. Peyton & Katharine Anne Paul -- "Relating to a country so distant": collecting South Asian arms and armour at the Tower of London during the nineteenth century / Natasha Bennett -- Objects across empire: the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto / Deepali Dewan -- Colonial collecting in Ceylon: dispersing the Hugh Nevill collections across the British Isles / Sushma Jansari -- "We want quality and condition": the formation of Chester Beatty's South Asian manuscripts and miniatures collection / Hyder Abbas -- Collecting with Éclat: Coomaraswamy and the framing of Indian art in American museums / Brinda Kumar -- Nasli Heeramaneck: the consummate collector and connoisseur / Pratapaditya Pal -- Masterworks of South Asian art at the Newark Museum: from missionaries, merchants, and medical women and men / Katherine Anne Paul -- Collecting and curating Indian art in Southeast Asia: the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Indian Heritage Centre, Singapore / Gauri Parimoo Krishnan -- Returning "home": the journey and afterlife of repatriated objects / Melody Rod-Ari -- Appendix A. Publicly accessible collections of South Asian art outside Sout Asia -- Appendix B. Higher education programs for South Asian studies -- Appendix C. Selected histories of global collecting.
Summary:
The volume looks at how South Asian art was sourced for external appreciation at a variety of institutions in Europe, North America, and Asia from the mid-19th century onward. These essays speak to the colonial legacies that created such collections but that now must be viewed though a post-colonial lens. The volume also addresses contemporary concerns for todays's museums: collecting, building and practices, provenance, and repatriation. "This beautifully illustrated volume details how South Asian art has been acquired by public and private collectors in Europe, North America, and Singapore from the mid-nineteenth century onward. It traces the various journeys and colonial legacies of artwork from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Contributors explore the removal of art objects from their countries of origin for external appreciation. They discuss British collecting practices during colonial rule in South Asia, when military officials and individuals associated with the East India Company transported various pieces to the Tower of London, the British Museum, and the Royal Ontario Museum. An overview of Newark Museum's unique history of acquiring art originating in South Asia--comprising over 3,000 objects--is provided, followed by insight into the birth of postcolonial exhibitions during a cultural renaissance in Singapore. The authors also tell the stories of private collectors including Alfred Chester Beatty, who bequeathed his entire library of miniature paintings and rare manuscripts to the people of Ireland; Ananda Coomaraswamy, who played an integral role in introducing Indian art to the West; Hugh Nevill, who compiled over 2,000 manuscripts in Sri Lanka; and Nasli Heeramaneck, who became one of the world's leading dealers in Asian arts and antiques. The essays in this volume also address the ethical and political dilemmas of displaying South Asian art for Western appreciation. They highlight calls for the return of cultural property to their original sites and explain that repatriated works are often used as centerpieces of political exhibitionism rather than celebrated as recovered symbols of national heritage. Featuring archival materials and high-quality images of key pieces, Arts of South Asia offers an inside look at early collecting practices while addressing contemporary concerns about how artwork obtained under colonial rule is displayed abroad."--Book jacket
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.