"A Transnational History of Art in India"
4:45 PM on Monday April 15th, 2024
Goldwin Smith Hall G22
Abstract
The lecture will take Devika Singh’s recent book International Departures: Art in India after Independence as a starting point to discuss transnational readings of art in India. Described as a major contribution to a new, transnational history of art, this captivating and richly illustrated account presents together for the first time the work of Indian and foreign artists active in India after independence in 1947. It engages with the many creators, critics and patrons of the postwar Indian art worlds and opens up new ways of thinking about Indian art, closely examining artworks and analysing how they were received in India and abroad. Featuring a wealth of rare and previously unpublished images, this provocative book explores how artists in India participated in global modernism during a crucial period of decolonization and nation building.
Biography
Devika Singh is Senior Lecturer in Curating at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She was previously Curator, International Art at Tate Modern where she was in charge of South Asian art and part of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. She curated exhibitions and collection displays at the CSMVS, Mumbai, the Dhaka Art Summit, the Dubai Design District, Kettle’s Yard (Cambridge, UK) and Tate Modern. Her writing has appeared widely in exhibition catalogues, art reviews such as frieze, Art Press and MARG and in the journals Art History, Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of Art Historiography and Third Text. Her book International Departures: Art in India after Independence (Reaktion Books) was released in early 2024 in the United States.
