Introductory description

This module will examine the visual culture of the Indian subcontinent during its (British) colonial and postcolonial periods (c.1757 to the present day). Encompassing the periods of the East India Company, the British Raj, and of Indian nationalism and independence (and its aftermath), the module is structured in two parts. First, it will consider the ways in which colonial encounters and imperial power-structures were articulated and consolidated through architecture, painting, sculpture and photography, as well as through institutions such as colonial art schools, and spectacles such as the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Delhi Durbars. In the second half of the module we examine the visual practice of Indian artists and photographers from various perspectives: as a site of growing opposition and resistance to imperial rule; as representative of conflicted engagements with western Modernism and its institutions; and as concerned with Indian perspectives on - and experiences of - gender, sexuality, migration and race. The module will conclude by examining the significance of Indian artists in today's globalised art world.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Introduction: Traders, objects, settlements
Colonial and Courtly Cities
Landscape Encounters
Imperial challenges and consolidation
Traditions and Institutions of Art
Photography in Colonial India
Aftermath of Independence
Modern Identities
Diaspora and Globalisation

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Command a knowledge of key works of colonial and postcolonial art and architecture produced in India.
• Demonstrate understanding of artistic relations between British and Indian patrons and artists.
• Display an understanding of key conceptual and theoretical frameworks within which colonial and postcolonial works have been discussed by art and cultural historians.
• Demonstrate an ability to interpret differing manifestations of colonial, national and artistic identity within an informed historical trajectory
• Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Ability to conduct independent research and analysis
• Sophisticated visual analysis and understanding visual culture
• Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

Romita Ray, Under the Banyan Tree: Relocating the Picturesque in British India (New Haven and London, 2013)
Natasha Eaton, Mimesis across Empires: Artworks and Networks in India, 1765–1860 (Durham, NC, 2013)
Partha Mitter, The Triumph of Modernism: India's Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1922-1947 (New York, 2007)
Partha Mitter, Much-Maligned Monsters: a history of European reactions to Indian Art (Chicago, 1992)
Tapati Guha-Thakurta, The Making of a New 'Indian' Art: Artists, Aesthetics and Nationalism in Bengal, c.1850-1920 (Cambridge, 2007)
Hermione de Almeida and George H. Gilpin, Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India (Aldershot, 2006)
Vidya Dehejia, India through the Lens: Photography 1840-1911 (Munich, 2000)
Swati Chattopadhyay, Representing Calcutta : modernity, nationalism, and the colonial uncanny (New York and London, 2006)
Thomas Metcalf, An Imperial Vision: India's Architecture and the British Raj (London, 1984)
Saatchi Gallery, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today (London, 2010)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• Command a detailed knowledge of key works of colonial and postcolonial art and architecture produced in India.
• demonstrate understanding of artistic relations between British and Indian patrons and artists.
• show a critical awareness of key conceptual and theoretical frameworks within which colonial and postcolonial works have been discussed by art and cultural historians.
• demonstrate an ability to interpret differing manifestations of colonial, national and artistic identity within an informed historical trajectory
• sophisticated visual analysis and understanding visual culture
• critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• ability to conduct independent research and analysis
• bibliographical skills at an appropriate level