Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
This exhibition forms part of Indian Summer – a season of
exhibitions and events focusing on India. Indian Summer is
sponsored by HSBC
28 May – 23 August 2009, now extended to 11 October 2009
Room 35
Admission charge
Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur is a
rare opportunity to view a unique type of Indian royal court
painting ranging in date from the 17th-19th centuries. The
exhibition will feature an exceptional loan from India and will be
made up of 54 paintings from the royal collection at the Mehrangarh
Museum Trust in Jodhpur, which was set up by the current maharaja,
Gaj Singh II, in 1972. Remarkably, none of these paintings has
ever previously been seen in Europe. Garden and Cosmos will
explore the two distinct styles of painting which flourished over
the period represented in the exhibition – on the one hand the
ornate style depicting the temporal pleasures of courtly life and
the verdant forests where scenes from the epics took place
(‘Garden’) and, on the other, the metaphysical paintings concerned
with philosophical speculation and the origin of the universe
(‘Cosmos’).
The 54 large format works on loan from the Mehrangarh Museum
Trust are specific to the Jodhpur region and are not found
elsewhere in Rajasthan. The paintings were created for the
personal pleasure of the maharajas who ruled over this part of
north-western India. As such, they represent the varying
aesthetic tastes and differing political and spiritual views of
three generations at the Jodhpur court.
The first part of the exhibition centres on the paintings
created for Bakhat Singh (1725-1751), depicting the pleasures of
the royal court – the prince is shown in his fort-palace at Nagaur
with its lush gardens surrounded by flowering forest; this section
also includes vibrant illustrations of the great Indian epics,
especially of the Ramayana. In this category the two paintings
which show the crashing monsoon storms and the crossing to Lanka
are especially thrilling.
The second part of the exhibition focuses on the paintings which
originated during the long reign of Maharaja Man Singh (1803–1843),
Bakhat Singh’s great-grandson. A fervent devotee of the Nath
yogis, a religious sect, he commissioned more than 1,000 paintings
to illustrate metaphysical concepts – and also to establish the
political legitimacy of this esoteric group. In their subject
matter, the paintings turn away from the glowing exterior world of
court life and instead address the interior world of philosophical
speculation and the origin of the universe. The new subject
matter naturally demanded new artistic approaches. In painting
after painting, the artists of this era demonstrate incredible
versatility in their attempts to represent Hindu concepts and texts
visually.
Thus, the paintings in this extraordinary exhibition, ranging
from glorious gardens in desert palaces to opulent images of cosmic
origins, depict the political, cultural and spiritual vitality of
Jodhpur and indicate the sophisticated way in which artists
conveyed profound spiritual conceptions. Although the precise
meaning of some of the final paintings is unclear, the large fields
of distinctive, brilliantly coloured wave patterns remind the
viewer that surrender to blocks of pulsating colour is not a 20th
century western invention.
Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur is
organised by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution, in collaboration with the Mehrangarh Museum
Trust. The exhibition will also feature two important
paintings loaned from the National Museum in Delhi and two
paintings from the British Museum’s own collection.
Richard Blurton, Curator, Department of Asia at the British
Museum, said: “Court paintings of this subject matter, intense
colour juxtaposition – and size – are exceptionally rare.
This exhibition will provide an unrivalled opportunity for visitors
to the British Museum to encounter and understand this body of
work, and experience the summation of many ideas of the Indian
painting tradition – vibrant colour, a stirring of the inner
emotions and a celebration of a spiritual voyage of subtlety and
fulfilment.”
Stephen Green, Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc, said:
'Garden and Cosmos is a wonderful celebration of India’s
culture and its natural environment. HSBC’s support of Indian
Summer at the British Museum reflects our commitment to Cultural
Exchange, which seeks to encourage and promote the understanding of
different cultures across the world. As a bank with a global
presence and a wide network, especially in the UK and India, HSBC
sees this as a key opportunity to further cement the ties between
these two countries.'
Indian Summer
May to October 2009 - The British Museum and HSBC present Indian
Summer, a season dedicated to Indian culture featuring a unique
programme of exhibitions, installations, performances, lectures and
film screenings. HSBC is the sponsor of the season that
includes: Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur, an
exhibition which provides a rare opportunity to view paintings of
outstanding interest and variety that have never previously been
seen in Europe; India Landscape, a specially commissioned space
presenting Indian biodiversity in the Museum’s forecourt, in
collaboration with Kew Gardens; and a rich and varied public
programme.
For further information, please contact:
About Garden and Cosmos
Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur is organised
by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in
collaboration with the Mehrangarh Museum Trust.
The exhibition will travel to four venues:
- Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 11 October 2008 – 4 January
2009
- Seattle Art Museum, 29 January – 26 April 2009
- British Museum, 28 May – 11 October 2009
- National Museum of India, November 2009
This exhibition will take place at the British Museum in Room
35, admission charge.
About HSBC Cultural Exchange
As the world’s local bank, HSBC aims to encourage and promote
the understanding of different cultures across the world through
its Cultural Exchange programme. As an international financial
services provider, HSBC has to operate across different cultures
and knows first hand how important it is to appreciate and
understand the different points of views and values of both its
employees and clients, in order to build successful working
relationships. HSBC therefore believes that Cultural Exchange can
generate important business benefits. HSBC embraces Cultural
Exchange in its widest sense; from fine art to cuisine, from
language and literature to dance, street arts and all forms of
music. www.hsbc.com/culturalexchange
HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is
headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from
around 9,500 offices in 86 countries and territories in Europe, the
Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With
assets of US$2,527 billion at 31 December 2008, HSBC is one of the
world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC
is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’.
About India Landscape
2 May – 28 September 2009
British Museum Forecourt, admission free
To complement the exhibition Garden and Cosmos: The Royal
Paintings of Jodhpur, the British Museum is collaborating
with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to create an Indian-themed
landscape on the Museum’s west lawn. The landscape will present a
section through the immensely diverse habitats of the Indian
subcontinent, taking visitors on a journey from the mountainous
environment of the Himalayas, through a temperate region and ending
in a sub-tropical zone centred on a pool filled with lotus flowers.
The landscape will highlight the significance of plant use in
Indian culture – as food, medicine and in trade and the way plants
such as chilli (native to South America) have travelled and become
completely indigenised. The landscape is the second in a series of
five planned collaborations with Kew.
About the Public Programme
A rich and varied programme of events and activities, featuring
public debates, lectures and talks by prominent Indian academics
and artists, screenings of award-winning films as well as a wide
range of family and educational activities will complement the
exhibition. A special evening ‘Late’ event will focus on India, and
visitors will be able to enjoy music and dance performances, food
and drink tastings as well as interactive workshops.