SACKLER TO EXHIBIT INDIAN PAINTINGS FROM THE FORMER ROYAL STATE OF KOTAH

Release July 24, 1997

Organized by the Harvard University Art Museums and the Asia Society, New York, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence, Gods, Kings, and Tigers: The Art of Kotah, will be on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum through November 2, 1997. This unprecedented exhibition-the first in the United States devoted to the artistic production of a single Rajput court-offers a unique view of pre-modern India through seventy paintings, drawings, and utilitarian works of art from the royal collections of the former state of Kotah (modern Rajasthan), one of the most prolific artistic centers in north India from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Following its showing at the Sackler, Gods, Kings, and Tigers will travel to the Rietberg Museum in Zurich. Support for Gods, Kings, and Tigers has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, federal agencies, Corning Incorporated, Metropolitan Life Foundation, the Joseph H. Hazen Foundation, Inc. and the Edward Austin Waters Exhibition and Special Project Fund.

The Hindu state of Kotah, about two hundred miles southwest of New Delhi, was founded in 1624 and quickly became one of the most influential Rajput artistic centers. Under the patronage of warrior-kings who allied themselves with the Mughal emperors in Delhi, a school of court painting arose that blended Hindu and Muslim artistic traditions into a distinct new visual style. These vibrant paintings, mostly executed in opaque watercolors, addressed religious, political and literary themes. Some were used to visually guide an elaborate liturgical tradition for Hindu gods housed in the royal palace or visually convey the divine authority of rulers; others served as documents of courtly interest, detailing the specifics of important battles, hunting expeditions, marriages and political alliances.

Contrary to notions that Indian art is often thought of as the work of anonymous artisans and is forever unchanging, artistic production from Kotah demonstrates that visual culture of pre-modern India was continually being reshaped through dynamic interaction between different political, religious and cultural forces. Important new discoveries made in research for Gods, Kings, and Tigers have been able to positively connect specific artistic interactions between Kotah and the Muslim courts of the Mughals and the Deccan Sultans. This research has identified the work of four major artists whose work formed and shaped the Kotah style; all are represented in this exhibition.

The most important of these artists, identified as the Kotah Master, was trained in the court style of the Deccan Sultans of South Central India and moved to Kotah at the end of the seventeenth century. His painting A Craftsman Making a Toy Matchlock of Wood animatedly portrays an admired artisan, intent upon his work. This searching characterization, which gives attention to telling detail, served as an example to those artists that followed him. Another artist identified as being an extremely important catalyst for the development of Kotah painting is Sheikh Taju, a Muslim artist who was most likely hired away from the Mughal court in Delhi. Sheikh Taju accompanied his royal patrons to hunts, battles and festivals that he was called upon to record.

Gods, Kings, and Tigers was curated by Stuart Cary Welch, curator of Islamic and later Indian art emeritus, Harvard University Art Museums. The works in the exhibition come from two sources: the personal collection of Maharao Brijraj Singh, current head of the Kotah royal family, and the Rao Madho Singh Museum Trust, housed in the Kotah Royal Palace.

Gods, Kings, and Tigers is timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence and offers an occasion for reflection on India's pre-modern past in which Rajput rulers played an important cultural role-as well as a glimpse into this visually striking and rich artistic tradition. The exhibition will be accompanied by a variety of public programs including a symposium, a Leventritt Lecture Series , gallery talks, concerts, a film series, a teachers' workshop and children's workshops. A teacher's guide will also be available. To further celebrate the anniversary of India's independence, the Art Museums will be open free to the public all day on Saturday, September 20, the day of the symposium. More information on these events is listed below.

A 223-page catalogue with 142 illustrations, 114 in color, has been produced by the Harvard University Art Museums and the Asia Society. The catalogue was edited by Stuart Cary Welch and includes five essays by scholars of Indian religion, history, literature, ethnology and art history.

The Art of Kotah at Harvard, a companion exhibition to Gods, Kings, and Tigers, will be on display at the Sackler Museum from September 20 through November 30, 1997. This exhibition, organized by Stuart Cary Welch and Rochelle Kessler, acting assistant curator of Islamic and later Indian art, will include paintings from Kotah in the Harvard University Art Museums collections and from a private collection.

Support for Gods, Kings, and Tigers has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, federal agencies, Corning Incorporated, Metropolitan Life Foundation, the Joseph H. Hazen Foundation, Inc. and the Edward Austin Waters Exhibition and Special Project Fund.

FILM SERIES
A series of films documenting various aspects of Indian culture will be presented at the Harvard Film Archive in the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street. Tickets are $6; $5 for students, and senior citizens, and are available at the door only.

Wednesday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m.
A Zenana: Scenes and Recollections (1982) directed by Jayasinhji Jhala and Roger Sandall
Hello Photo (1994) directed by Nina Davenport

Thursday, September 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Days and Nights in the Forest (1969) directed by Satyajit Ray

Sunday, September 14 at 9:00 p.m.
Days and Nights in the Forest

Monday, September 15 at 6:00 p.m.
A Zenana: Scenes and Recollections
Hello Photo

SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, September 20
"Paintings, Poetics and Performance in South Asian Visual Culture"
Sackler lecture hall, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public; registration is not required; complimetary parking available at the Broadway Garage, on the corner of Felton Street and Broadway.
The Harvard University Art Museums will be open free all day.
Speakers and topics include:

Woodman Taylor, assistant professor, Department of Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago
"Picture Theory/Picture Practice: Agency of Paintings at Kotah"

Diana Eck, professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Harvard University
"Darshan: The Sight and Sense of Krishna"

Joseph Miller, Department of Folklore, University of Pennsylvania
"Use and Interpretation of Narrative Cloth Paintings of Rajasthan"

Vidya Dehejia, curator for South and Southeast Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
"Once Upon A Time: Narrative in Indian Paintings"

Norbert Peabody, Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and Holder of the Graduate Office in Research at the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge
"The King is Dead, Long Live the King!: Karmic Kin(g)ship in Kotah"

GALLERY TALKS
Gallery talks are free with the price of admission to the Harvard University Art Museums. Admission is free on Saturday mornings.

Saturday, September 27
With Rochelle Kessler, acting assistant curator of Islamic and later Indian art. Sackler, 11:30 a.m.

Sunday, October 26
With Rochelle Kessler, acting assistant curator of Islamic and later Indian art. Sackler, 2:00 p.m.

CONCERTS
Tickets for the following concerts are $20 and $25; for further information and to purchase tickets, please call (508) 468-2289. Tickets may be purchased at the door only upon availability.

Saturday, September 27
Brij Narayan, sarod, Anindo Chatarjee, tabla, and Priya Chitre, tanpura
Paine Hall, 3 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 19
Pandit Ajay Chakravarti, vocal, Kaushiki Chakravarti, vocal, Anindo Chatarjee, tabla, and Guha, harmonium
Sackler lecture hall, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 16
Ustad Asad Ali Khan, been (Rudra veena), Pandit Gopal Das, pakhawaj, and Priya Chitre, tanpura
Paine Hall, 3 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, 7:30 p.m.

WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN
Sunday, September 28 for ages 5-7
Sunday, November 2 for ages 8-10
"The Colorful World of Kotah"
Sackler, 2:00-3:30 p.m.
$7; advance registration is required; call (617) 495-2397.
Jungles with tigers, elephants, and snakes, warriors on horses, dancers and kings: We invite your children to discover the colorful and lively world of Kotah! Through various activities within the exhibition galleries led by Art Museums' docents and the children's opportunity to create their own works of art, the vivacious spirit of the Kotah world, captured in these images, will be brought to life.

M. VICTOR LEVENTRITT LECTURES
Wednesday, October 22 and Thursday, October 23
"Image and Essence: Indian Paintings from the 16th to the 19th Centuries"
Sackler lecture hall, 6:00 p.m.
Free and open to the public; registration is not required; complimetary parking available at the Broadway Garage, on the corner of Felton Street and Broadway.
Speakers and topics include:

Kapila Vatsyayan, founding director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
"Paintings and Poetry in Jayadeva's Gitagovinda"

Robert Skelton, former keeper of the Indian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum
"Painting in Rajasthan"

Milo Beach, director, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
"Maharajas and the Grand Mughal: The Relationship of Rajput and Mughal Painting"

Joanna Williams, professor, History of Art, University of California, Berkeley
"Two or Three Ways of Looking at Delhi in 1842 The M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Fund was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and greater Boston communities.