Asian Art and Architecture Commons^™

Censorship In The Indian Art Market: Legal, Institutional, And Commercial Implications, Kritika Salhotra

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation examines censorship of art in an Indian context, focusing on artistic production, exhibition practices, and the commercial viability of dissenting art. Drawing on case studies from institutional controversies, legal judgments, and interviews with practitioners, the study analyses how censorship operates not only through law but also through institutional gatekeeping and market mechanisms. The research finds that while Indian courts, particularly at the higher levels, have shown slow progress towards becoming liberal, the persistence of vague obscenity provisions and inconsistent jurisprudence sustains a climate of legal ambiguity. Extralegal pressures often shape curatorial decisions, leading art organisations to retreat or …

Francesco Clemente: In One's Self Lies The Whole World, Lorraine Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Francesco Clemente’s body of work, especially between 1992 and 2014, theoretically draws from the Hindu concept of the avatāra, wherein the figures he portrays interminably exist in a state of flux and unraveling. Many of the figures discussed are inspired by Indian spirituality, mythology, and popular culture. Nonetheless, rather than comprehending them as literal interpretations, they exist through a prism of references.

The research conducted throughout this thesis combines analyses gathered from academic essays and books by notable Indian scholars, such as Jyotindra Jain and Partha Mitter. These two distinct voices coalesce to elucidate deep insight into Clemente’s aesthetic, personal, …

Translational Placemaking: The Diasporic Archive, Alia Varawalla

Masters Theses

Globalization and mass migration has propelled a hybrid existence, as individuals that occupy multiple geographies we live in a constant state of translation. Our museums and cultural institutions are in opposition to this; static, preserved and de-contextualized. At the intersection of printmaking and architecture, this thesis proposes a living archive to document the collective migratory journey across sites, materials, and hybrid identities. A network of centers for knowledge sharing and production centered on India and its diaspora. As art practices and people migrate, cultural production evolves with its context, gaining new meaning as it changes hands generationally and globally.

Syncretic Souvenirs: An Investigation Of Two Modern Indian Manuscripts, Madeline Helland

Scripps Senior Theses

The objective of this project was to establish a provenance for two Indian manuscripts that were recently discovered in the collections at Scripps College. Based on their illuminations, script, and binding structure, I was able to conclude that these two manuscripts are Hindu religious texts created around the 19^th or 20^th century. To determine an approximate origin and the significance of these volumes, my research focused on the syncretism of religion, material history, and power dynamics in India. Their context was specifically framed within the history of manuscript construction and conservation.

The Unintended Legacy Of Hellenism: The Development And Dissemination Of The Buddha Image, Chukyi Kyaping

History Honors Papers

This paper traces the development and evolution of the Buddha image from the first century CE in Gandhara to the fifth century CE in Luoyang, China and discusses the circumstances that allowed the image to adapt to different cultural environments. The emergence of the Buddha image marked a significant shift in the perception of the Buddha himself, through which Buddhism had effectively transformed from a philosophy into a religion.

Due to the syncretic nature of the Gandhari region, the Buddha image incorporated elements from multiple cultures, most notably from the Hellenistic artistic tradition. The dissemination of the Buddha image, traced …

Reawakening In Bundelkhand: Cultural Identity In Orchha And The Effects Of Tourism On Its Creation, Preservation, And Loss, Brenton David Kalinowski

Black & Gold

The purpose of this study is to explore the roots of the cultural identity of the Indian town of Orchha today, and with that context in place, to analyze the influence tourism has had in Orchha in the past twenty years. In particular, how tourism has created new cultural identity, how it has influenced a movement towards the preservation of cultural identity, but also how it has threatened loss of cultural identity. The research was conducted using a combined historical and ethnographic approach, using both archival research and ethnographic techniques. Throughout the study, and as this paper shows, the medieval …

Ganesha: A Study Of Personal Worship To A Personal God, Madeline Taylor, Katherine Garner, Naomi Purnell

Featured Research

Hindu devotees worship Ganesha when they are beginning a new phase or faces obstacles in their lives. In investigating the personal devotion of Hindu gods in India, we have found that there is a difference between the ways a Hindu worships the god Ganesha at a public shrine than in their own home. The main difference in worship style is that in the home, the worshiper acts as his or her own priest. There is room for greater interpretation in worship style and offerings made to the deity. Since our topic is personal devotion, we were drawn to the private …