Arts & Culture
Raj S. Rangarajan
If its September in New York, its United Nations sessions with visiting world leaders and their entourages accompanied by traffic jams. It is also the start of the art season with art auctions and art appreciation sessions. This year has not been different. As auctioneers Christie’s and Sotheby’s were busy selling their pricey wares in midtown Manhattan, a few blocks north and west, was Asia Society showcasing two exhibitions that reflect India’s vibrant artistic and cultural traditions.
Titled “When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewellery from the Susan L. Beningson Collection” the jewellery show covers 17th century to 19th century pieces from South India. Another classy display “In the Realm of Gods and Kings: Arts of India – Selections from the Polsky Collections and The Metropolitan Museum of Art” features more than 200 works of traditional Indian art ranging from the 2nd century B.C.E. to early 20th century, and acclaimed photographer Raghubir Singh’s creations. Selected pieces from the Polsky personal collection, Polskys’ gifts to their children and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), as well as works acquired by curators at the Met, are on display.
Caption: Krishna as a prince approaching the village girls Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India; ca. 1735-1740 Opaque watercolor on paper 28.6 x 43.2 cm
Caption: Sandals for a deity (padukas) of sheet gold over lac, set with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds and hung with pearls Deccan, India; 17th-18th century 11.5 x 6.5 cm Susan L. Beningson Collection
Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K.
Vishakha N. Desai, President, Asia Society and curator, says, “It is this capacity to absorb and fuse the new with incongruent juxtapositions of earlier eras that lead people to remark that Indians live in many centuries all at once, or that the past is ever present in India.” This collection of Indian art celebrates Cynthia and Leon Polsky who have had a deep connection with India and things Indian, starting with their first visit in 1960.
With its extensive history rooted in mythology and religion Indian art has always had a nuanced influence with the past and the present, with the mortal and the divine. India’s plethora of gods and goddesses has always played significant roles in the lives of average Indians and the Polsky collection depicts grand narratives or particular themes. The visitor will be expected to stretch his or her imagination – perhaps a wee bit more than normal - in drawing some of the connections. Photographs of temple-related subjects and exclusive works from Buddhist and Jain traditions provide a certain context for the religious diversity that India is. Raghubir Singh’s photographs are a feast for the eyes.
The Susan L. Beningson jewellery collection includes rings, anklets, earrings, earstuds, pendants for the hair, crowns and ornate swings for a deity. Photos of the time period placed next to the jewellery help understand how jewellery was worn. Dr. Molly Emma Aitken, an independent curator, who curated the exhibition says, “To adorn a person is to offer him or her protection, prosperity, respect and social definition. Certain components of jewellery are believed to have individual powers.” Gold, for instance, is thought to have the power to purify those it touches. The exhibits cover three realms of experience which have indeed dominated many an Indian theme for centuries: Jewellers, Women and Deities.
Susan L. Beningson, who serves on Asia Society’s Museum Advisory Committee, has been collecting Indian jewellery for several years and her collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century jewellery was featured in the “Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India” at Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
Caption: Gold Chettiar tali Tamil Nadu, India; 19th century 74 cm length
Susan L. Beningson Collection; Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K.
Caption: Pair of gold ear covers (karnapatras), set with rubies and emeralds Orissa, India; late 17th or early 18th century 7.4 x 5.4 cm Susan L. Beningson Collection; Photo: Bruce White
Caption: Gold bracelet with enamel work, set with rubies, diamonds and pearls South India; late 18th century 7 cm diameter Susan L. Beningson Collection; Photo: Benjamin Harris B.S.K.
Gold anklets, double-strand pearls and turban ornaments were once the prerogative of rulers, and forehead pendants, bracelets, necklaces, anklets and toe rings are still considered signs of a married woman. In Indian tradition, gold purifies while gems channel the energies of the planets, and these beliefs and traditions (some would term them, superstitions) continue to be followed and even celebrated in several parts of India.
The sixteen adornments (“solah shringar”) that constitute a woman’s beauty in traditional India would include jewellery, dress, perfume, soothing or healing balms and hair arrangements. Jewellery could also define a woman’s social, religious and regional identity. Silver and gold items have differing connotations. Designers of fashion and costume jewellery have obviously caught on: they know there is a piece of jewellery for almost every part of the body.
Did you know that the earliest jewellery in India was decorated with granulation, a technique that perhaps originated in Mesopotamia and spread to the Middle east, Central Asia and North Africa? According to curator Aitken, “granulation” remains an essential element of the Indian jeweller’s repertoire even today, which is evident in the exhibition.
Both Asia Society exhibitions are open till January 23, 2005. For details, please access www.asiasociety.org .
[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, travel and lifestyles and reviews books, films and plays for media based in New York, California, Toronto, India and Australia.]
