Artworks Present the Many Facets of Love from the Middle East and Southern Asia
Sacred and Profane Love Themes Illustrated in 13th to 19th-Century Paintings and Sculptures from Turkey, Iran, India, and Nepal
Cambridge, MA (July 27, 2001)—Drawing mainly from the diverse collection of the Harvard University Art Museums, The Sensuous and the Sublime: Representations of Love in the Arts of the Middle East and Southern Asia presents more than 30 paintings and sculptures from the 13th to 19th -centuries. The exhibition opened July 7 and will continue through December 30, 2001, at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.
Inspired by sacred literature, lyric poetry, and folk tales, artists often created paintings and sculptures that could be read alternately as visualizations of overt sensuality or as symbols of spiritual union. In these elegant works, earthly and divine lovers participate in the dance of love: a prince dallies with his wife, celestial couples embrace, a mother nurtures her child, and a priest piously worships his personification of God.
"The Sensuous and the Sublime is the result of the fruitful collaboration between our scholarly curatorial staff and the generosity and commitment of many of our donors," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "The appeal of these beautiful objects lies both in their many references to cultural practices and in their highly seductive visual properties, an appeal not lost on our curators and donors alike."
Each of the works in The Sensuous and the Sublime contributes to a visual compendium of love and love lore. Expressions of sublime and idealized love—compassion, self-sacrifice, and pious worship—are represented here as well as themes of allegorical love. Tales of historic and mythological lovers were the inspiration for scores of Middle Eastern and Southern Asian poets, who transformed the passionate adventures and unrequited love of these protagonists into lyric love poetry. The depiction of physical love in this literature and the illustrations that accompanied them were often laden with implications of spiritual love, and the line between sacred and profane blurred.
Other works in the exhibition illustrate the varied stages of love: the first meeting, stolen moments and triumphal union, separation and longing, and reconciliation and reunion. Tahmina Comes to Rustam’s Chamber, a painting produced for the 15th-century Timurid court at Herat (in modern Afghanistan), depicts a romantic episode from the Shahnama (Book of Kings), an epic poem written by the 11th-century Persian poet Firdausi. In the quiet of the night we view the clandestine meeting of the hero Rustam and the princess Tahmina. Rustam awakens to the sound of hushed voices outside his bedchamber, and his door is opened by a candle-bearing servant lighting the way for Tahmina. The princess, demurely holds the fur collar of her robe up to her mouth and professes her love to Rustam. The artist depicts the great hero surrounded by his military accoutrements reclining on his bed and patting the pillow next to him—a sign of receptivity to Tahmina’s advances.
The narrative would not be complete without a presentation of at least a few images alluding to the subject of love in excess. As vividly depicted in the painting Crime Passionnel: An Outraged Husband Murders His Unfaithful Wife and Her Lover, produced c. 1745 at the Rajput court of Bikaner in Rajasthan, thwarted love can manifest in obsessive and reckless behavior. Upon returning home in the evening, a man finds his wife in the arms of another. After wounding the unfortunate paramour with a sword, the husband drags his wife, screaming and pleading for her life, from the bed.
"Love, one of the most complex and powerful of human emotions, has been wonderfully interpreted here by painters and sculptors who infused their love images with dynamism and delicacy, and elements of pathos and humor." said Rochelle Kessler, former assistant curator, Islamic and Later Indian Art, and current assistant curator, South and Southeast Asian Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Gallery Talk
Sunday, December 9, Arthur M. Sackler Museum – 2 p.m.
Mary Anderson McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Associate Curator of Islamic
and Later Indian Art
The Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions
in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and
depth of its collections, its groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original
research of its staff. For more than a century, it has been the nation’s
premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and is renowned
for its seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline
of art history in this country.
The three art museums at Harvard—the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Fogg Art Museum—are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, long a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art, as well as the U. S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an ongoing excavation project in western Turkey. The 150,000 objects in the art museums’ collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its areas of focus.
As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and special exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs in the various museums.
The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas: Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are a uniquely broad and rich resource that is continually enhanced through gifts and acquisitions. Together, the holdings of the three museums comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.
The Straus Center for Conservation is the oldest fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States. The Center specializes in the conservation of paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, historic and archaeological artifacts, and works of art on paper. Its team members are pioneers in developing new applications of digital imaging in conservation. The Center’s state-of-the-art facilities support a broad range of analytical services.
The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, 1–5 p.m., and are closed on national holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18, and for all individuals on Saturdays until noon and all day on Wednesdays.
For general information, call 617-495-9400 or visit www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. All groups of seven or more must schedule in advance by calling 617-496-8576. The Harvard University Art Museums receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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