Traditional Arts of South Asia: Continuity in Contemporary Practice & Patronage

This book examines the challenges of modernity to the development, understanding and practice of the traditions of architecture, sculpture, textiles and paintings of South Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

South Asia is well known for its vibrant visual culture, with a rich artistic tradition that stretches back over two millennia. Traditional Arts of South Asia: continuity in contemporary patronage and practice examines the challenges of modernity to the development, understanding and practice of the traditions of architecture, sculpture, textiles and paintings of South Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Included are studies of traditions of art in India and Sri Lanka in the context of the nineteenth century British Arts & Crafts Movement; the production and consumption of block-printed cloth and other textiles in western India; the impact of modern technology on the mass reproduction of Hindu imagery; tradition and innovation in the practice of bronze-casting and temple painting in south India; and the patronage and design of religious architecture, both Hindu and Islamic, in modern South Asia. The papers included are by a distinguished group of eleven scholars and practitioners of traditional arts from India, Pakistan, Britain and the United States.