Vision of Kings: Art and Experience in India

Description

Covering a vast panorama of history and tradition, this work presents a survey of 2000 years of Indian art, published to coincide with an exhibition to be held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Over many centuries, Indian artists have created a range of highly distinctive imagery reflecting the depth and diversity of Indian civilization - principally employing the human figure to represent a startling array of divine concepts, philosophical ideals and political ambitions. The diversity is immediately evident in the pages of "The Visions of Kings". More than 100 works drawn from Indian, Australian, European and American collections, are reproduced in colour, accompanied by a commentary. Elaborately decorative and richly imaginative, the artefacts illustrated in this work range from cast bronze images to stone sculpture, from intricately decorated manuscript illustrations to royal portraits from imperial albums. Images of Hindu gods, Buddist and Jain saviours, auspicious guardians and historical kings all engage the gaze of the viewer in different ways. This book discusses the nature of this imagery and its visual power, and explores the experience of viewing Indian art within different architectural contexts.