Intro to Art of India

Art of India

T, R, 12-1:50PMProfessor Paige Prater

Mapping it!

Religious Traditions in India

• Buddhism– Buddha’s teaching (563-483 BCE) – life’s

difficulties>enlightenment>nirvana• Hinduism – karma, reincarnation, polytheistic;

liberation from samsara (cycle of life and death)– Vishnu– Shiva– Devi– Brahma

Overview of Artistic Styles

• Indian art: elaborate decoration/human body; sensual

Art of India

• Buddhist and Hindu

Great Stupa, third century BCE, enlarged under the Sunga and Andhra Dynasties, c. 150–50 BCE, Sanchi, India

Detail of East gate at Great Stupa, 3rd Century BCE

• Pilgrims: east gate, clockwise

• Stupas/gateways (toranas)= recreation of the universe in a 3D mandala pattern.

• 35’ columns• Scenes of Buddha’s

multiple lives (jatakas)

Four Buddhas

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHt6BgHxa8o

Bodhisattva Padmapani, Cave 1, Ajanta, India. Cave painting,

second half of 5th century

• 29 caves carved into a horse-shoe-shaped cliff in Ajanta (western India)

• Buddhist sculptures/paintings

• Lotus• Bodhissatva – one who

achieved nirvana but voluntarily stays to help others reach enlightenment

Indian Art: Hinduism• 3rd largest world

religion; most followers in India

• Large temple complex in northern India

• Dedicated to Shiva, Hindu god of creation and destruction

Kandariya Mahadeva temple, c. 1000, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India

Detail of exterior sculpture, Kandariya

Mahadeva temple

• More than 600 sculptures

• Sensual• Unity of

male/female represents unity of cosmos

Indian Art: ISLAM

• Mid-16th century, Mughals took over India (Mongolian descent, Muslim), ruled hundreds of years– Jahangir, “World Conqueror” (1569-1627)– Shah Jahan, (1592-1666) and wife, Mumtaz Mahal

(1593-1631)• Sufism• Commissioned artworks

– Persian– Indian

Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaykh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album, Mughal Dynasty, c. 1615–18. Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, 18⅞ × 13”. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C

Taj Mahal, 1631-1648, Agra, India• White marble inscribed; reflects the sun• Dome: 58’ diameter, 213’ tall