Opening on Feb 16, India: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art is the Speed Art Museum’s first exhibition of South Asian art to be hosted by the Speed in its nearly 100-year institutional history.
This marquee exhibition comprises a pair of thematic exhibitions and is drawn from The Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, now housed at the San Diego Museum of Art. It is one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of South Asian paintings outside of modern-day Pakistan and India.
The Throne, The Chase, and The Heart and Elephant in the RoomIntended to be encyclopedic in nature, the more than 1,400-piece collection includes paintings made for the Mughal, Deccani, Rajasthani and Parahi courts. The collection was assembled by Binney, an heir to the Crayola fortune, who was also interested in Persian painting, Ottoman and other Islamic art, ballet prints and theater books.
Replete with colorful and exquisitely painted portraits and manuscript illuminations reflecting the rich and diverse artistic traditions of South Asia over four centuries, the exhibition promises to dazzle visitors. The exhibition runs through May 12.
“This is an extraordinary chance to present a historical overview of South Asian life, culture and art, and more importantly, will allow us to bring related programming, cinema screenings and learning opportunities about this rich cultural heritage to the Kentuckiana region,” said Erika Holmquist-Wall, Chief Curator of the Speed Art Museum.
“Museums are asked to be in touch with the communities in which they serve and to share those histories and cultural heritage. The Speed does not have this area represented in our own collections and given how large our South Asian community is, it’s essential and important that we meet the needs of our community and region and that the Speed shows all kinds of art,” said Holmquist-Wall.
India is intentionally divided into two themed sections. The first, The Throne, The Chase, and The Heart, introduces Indian rulers and elites through 46 exquisite portraits and paintings of courtly pastimes. Several of the works were intended for courtly albums, while some were executed on a larger scale. In both subject matter and technique, they exhibit the splendor, power, and culture of Islamic and other courts in India during the 16th-19th centuries. They also represent the diverse artistic traditions – Hindu, Persianate, and Islamic – cultivated in the royal kitabkhana, or workshop, which were often disseminated to other courts throughout and beyond South Asia. Works will be presented in three sections: (1) “The Throne” (2) “The Chase” and (3) “The Heart,” exploring images of power and authority, the royal hunt and courtly love.
The second section, Elephant in the Room, explores the long-revered role of the elephant in South Asian oral and visual traditions, the legacy of which also survives in courtly painting. Inspired by this inherent reverence for the elephant, an appreciation rooted in India’s rich literary traditions and folklore, artists at the courts of Muslim and Hindu rulers produced splendid paintings and studies of elephants, many of which were admired in albums, and others conceived as independent compositions or as designs for transfer to other media. All share a cultural affinity for the simultaneously massive yet graceful, powerful but noble elephant, its majesty captured by the empathetic hand of the artist. The second theme within the exhibition presents the subject in four sections: (1) “Folklore and Elephants in Indian Literature” (2) “Elephants in Action” (3) “Powerful Processions” and (4) “Portraits and Preservation.”
As Speed curators seek to diversify its representation of art history in the museum, this large-scale exhibition brings one of the richest and most diverse perspectives in highlighting this particular culture and its traditions. “This is one of the largest collections of historical South Asian art in North America and it brings us the best of the best,” said Kim Spence, Senior Director of Collections and Curator of Works on Paper.
Prior to its arrival in Louisville, the exhibition was shown at CentroCentro de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain. After its 3-month engagement at the Speed, it will return to the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) where the works will rest. “These works on paper are incredibly light sensitive and they literally have to be housed in the dark for a while,” said Spence.
The collections of the Harvard-educated Binney came to the SDMA as a bequest after his death in 1986. According to Dr. Ladan Akbarnia, SDMA’s Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, Binney collected many areas of art given his wide-ranging interests. “As a resident of San Diego, he also became a Trustee of the San Diego Museum of Art and was so engaged with research and building an encyclopedic collection of painting that he was even given his own office in the basement of the museum’s library, which now holds his archives,” said Akbarnia.
Roxana Velasquez, the SDMA’s Executive Director, said only a few museums in the world possess a collection of this magnitude. “It is a great honor that Edwin Binney 3rd entrusted this legacy to the San Diego Museum of Art, and we are delighted to share its reach with the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky,” she said.
Lopa Mehrotra, chair of the Speed’s Board of Trustees, championed this first-ever exhibition. Last year, Mehrotra formed a special Advisory Committee of individuals from the local Indian and Pakistani communities to discuss its important themes and to help guide the museum in connecting the exhibition with modern day culture.
“We are grateful for the enthusiasm and support of the Advisory Committee. We have such a vibrant South Asian community in Louisville, and many don’t realize that there’s an Indian and Pakistani cultural heritage here that goes back several generations,” said Mehrotra. “These generous volunteers have shared their cultural knowledge to ensure that the Speed’s programming and events authentically represent both modern and classical South Asia. This is really a celebration of our local Indian and Pakistani communities, and our advisors have provided crucial connections to local organizations and businesses for outreach and partnership.”