ART 712:  Problems of Indian Art, Seminar, Fall 1993
Weds. 3-5, History of Art Seminar Room, 3440 Market St.
Professor Michael W. Meister, Room 572

Topic:  ART IN AND OUT OF RITUAL CONTEXT
Thesis:  This reading workshop will allow students to explore issues 
surrounding the use of art within ritual and as a tool rather than 
artifact.  India's religious art will act as focus -- deity images, 
temples, ritual implements -- but the function of art will in large part 
be our subject.  Students will be asked to keep a log of their reading.

Books, available at Penn Book Center:   
	Eck, Diana.  Darshan, Seeing the Divine Image in India, 2nd ed., 
Chambersburg, Pa.: Anima Books, 1985.          
	Harle, J. C.The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 
New York: Penguin Books, 1986.
	Journal of Ritual Studies 6.1 (1992): special issue. "Art in 
Ritual Context", ed. Kathleen Ashley and Irene Winter.
	Zimmer, Heinrich. Myths and Symbols of Indian Art and 
Civilization, Princeton:  Princeton University Press [1946].

Preliminary List of Possible Reading and Discussion Topics:

I. "Art in Ritual Context"
Journal of Ritual Studies, Eck, and Zimmer (above).

II. "Tribal & Folk vs. 'High' Art"
	Dalmia, Yashodhara. The Painted World of the Warlis, Art and 
Ritual of the Warli Tribes of Maharashtra, New Delhi: Lalit Kala 
Akademi, 1988.
	Jain, Jyotindra.  Painted Myths of Creation: Art and Ritual of an 
Indian Tribe, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1984.
	Kagal, Carmen, ed.  Shilpakar, the Craftsman, Bombay, 1982.
	Kramrisch, Stella.  Unknown India: Ritual Art in Tribe and 
Village, Philadelphia: Museum of Art, 1968.

III.  Images
	Bolon, Carol Radcliffe.  Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in 
Indian Art, University Park, Pa.: College Art Association, 1992.
	Collins, Charles Dillard.  The Iconography & Ritual of Siva at 
Elephanta, Albany: SUNY Press, 1988.
	Dehejia, Vidya.  Art of the Imperial Cholas, New York: Columbia 
University Press, 1990.
	Desai, Vishakha and Darielle Mason, eds.  Gods, Guardians, and 
Lovers, Temple Sculpture from North India, New York: The Asia Society, 
1993.

IV.  Temples
	Goswami, Shrivatsa and Margaret Case, "The Birth of a Shrine" (mss.).
	Meister, Michael W.  "Symbology and Architectural Practice in 
India." In Sacred Architecture in the Traditions of India, China, Judaism 
and Islam, ed. Emily Lyle, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992.
--------, "Sweetmeats or Corpses?" (mss.).
Ref.:
	Eschmann, Anncharlott, Hermann Kulke, and Gaya Charan Tripathi.  
The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa New Delhi: 
Manohar, 1978.
	Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu Temple, Calcutta: Calcutta 
University Press, 1946. (skim only)
Stein, Burton, ed. South Indian Temples, New Delhi: Vikas, 1978.
	Welbon, Guy R. and Glenn E. Yocum, eds. Religious Festivals in 
South India and Sri Lanka, New Delhi: Manohar, 1982.       

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You may also be interested in looking at the catalogue of another recent 
exhibition:   

Art/Artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections, with 
essays by Arthur Danto, et al.; introduction by Susan 
Vogel.  New York: Center for African Art, 1988.

An on-line Abstract of the exhibition states:   "Art/artifact," 160 
brilliantly selected African objects on exhibit at the Center for African 
Art in Manhattan ... raises the fascinating question of how primitive art 
is to be viewed.  In their native context, many of these objects had 
great power and were displayed only in ritual.  To the modern viewer, the 
objects resemble art.  Visitors to the exhibit first see a hunting net 
and other objects that are artistically beautiful.  They then see rooms 
full of objects displayed in different ways, as art and as artifacts.