Memory, Metaphor, Mutations: Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan

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As boundaries slowly dissolve and interactive realities become evident, the cultures of India and Pakistan are beginning to draw attention. Recent exchanges have taken place in the realm of music, cinema and other cultural forms. Moreover, both nations share a heritage of Mughal miniatures, Rajasthani, and Pahari art, and are bound together by history and the problematics of the present. The contemporary art of the two countries, in all its vitality, today has a fascinating new identity. This richly illustrated book reveals the heterogenous, complex, and vibrant life of the subcontinent of South Asia that is reflected through both Pakistani and Indian art. With their vast, chaotic landscapes, and a multiplicity of languages and cultures, the cities of South Asia, whether Karachi or Mumbai, Lahore or Delhi, have a distinct identity even as they make their presence felt on the global stage. They form the nucleus for a pluralistic art, and an ever-increasing market for its consumption. At the same time, South Asian art, in its own unique, authentic format, is crossing new cultural and geographic borders to become transnational. In the first part of the book, Salima Hashmi introduces the art practices of Pakistan, since Partition, and their historical background. She goes on to discuss the subversive work of women artists, who have recently asserted themselves. The section ends with an overview of artists who have blended rather uniquely the miniature tradition with contemporary trends. The second part by Yashodhara Dalmia, begins with the historical development of art in India from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. There follows a focus on the Progressive Artists Group, which leaned heavily towards modernism in the fifties, and remains of paramount importance today. The essay on women artists brings issues of self, country, and the world to the forefront. The last two chapters provide an account of the hybrid styles incorporated into the work of young artists, which are at once international and local.

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Yashodhara Dalmia Yashodhara Dalmia is a well-known art historian and independent curator based in New Delhi. She has written extensively on art and culture and her publications include, among others, The Painted World of the Warlis (1988), The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives (OUP 2001), and Memory, Metaphor, Mutations: Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan (co-authored with Salima Hashmi, OUP 2007). Salima Hashmi Dean at the School of Visual Arts at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.