Past Programmes

‘A Flower From Every Meadow’: Mughal painting as a tradition of hybridity

In popular imagination, there is a specific 'Mughal style' - in architecture, cusped arches and splashing fountains in white marble; in painting, refined portraits and darbar scenes. Both of these iconic images of Mughal art derive from specific moments in its history. Not only is there no one Mughal 'style' there is also no one line of evolution for Mughal art, from simple to complex, or Persianate to Europeanized. This series of lectures will show Mughal painting as a hybrid creature, deriving from a continuous negotiation with different painterly styles. We will see that the 'look' of a painting is a conscious choice made to express cultural affiliations, ideologies, alliances with specific political factions, or even social rank. The style of a painting must be seen then not as an inevitability of its historical period, but as the result of self-conscious attitudes towards the language of painting, on the part of artists, patrons and connoisseurs. The themes of the three sessions are - Two Poles of Desire: Mughal Painting and the Cycles of Fashion for Persianate and Europeanate Styles; The Album: Cultures of Collecting; and Sovereign Image.

Kavita Singh

Kavita Singh is Associate Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she teaches courses on the history of Indian Painting as well as the history and politics of Museums.

Registration Fees: Rs. 1000/-