Jewel in the Crown (far left) part of an unfinished ceiling bracket, circa 11th c (approx ); (left) indra, king of the gods’ heaven: here he wears a crown studded with semiprecious stones, rich jewelry, and an intricately woven lower garment.
miniature paintings, royal and religious textiles, ceramics, video footage of life and worship in India, and archival photography.
The South Asian Galleries at the museum also exhibit the well-known and historic collection of Stella Kramrisch, whom Rabindranath Tagore revered deeply. An Austrian ballerina, she fell deeply in love with India when she first read a translation of the Bhagavad Gita. After earning a doctorate in Indian cultural studies in 1919, she taught at Shantiniketan, and lived in India for nearly 30 years between 1921 and 1950 travelling, collecting, researching and writing about Indian art. Many in India still remember Kramrisch as the “little woman with a huge presence.” Kramrisch, who became a devout Shiva follower, is often cited as the first Indian art historian. Her exhibitions were bold and daring, pushing accepted boundaries. It was she who organised the “Manifestations of Shiva” in 1981, an exhibition in the United States that introduced visitors to the power of this contradictory god. She died at the age of 97, leaving her entire collection of over 1,000 art objects—sculpture, miniature paintings, textiles, folk and tribal art—to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This remarkable woman, her generosity and scholarship remain at the heart of the museum’s collection.
The approximately 200 objects on display in the new galleries are presented in two major themes: Art and the Divine and Art,
Power, Status, showing how civilisations have used art to relate to God and to assert wealth and power. Beginning with a small room fittingly dedicated to Kramrisch, 20th century’ s mother goddess of Indian art, the new galleries allow visitors to create their own narratives and interpretations, perhaps even contradictory ones, much like Kramrisch’s favourite God, Shiva. The results of the reimagined space is that there is no single, linear chronology, “You don’t have to follow a route; you pick and choose,” says Mason.
Also, bringing the past into dialogue with the present, one of the fascinating interventions has been the curator’s commission of Pakistani-born artist Shazia Sikander. Sikander has created a contemporary animation inspired by the complicated love story visualised in the 200-year old manuscript, Gulshan-e-Ishq, in the museum’s permanent collection. “It has been exciting to reimagine the galleries for a new generation of visitors. Each of the works was originally created to communicate, whether to worshippers, kings, villagers, or gods and we hope that every visitor discovers something here that brings new meaning into her or his own life,” says Mason.
Only an hour by train from New York City, Philadelphia Museum’s reincarnated South Asian art galleries are a must for any art and history lover. A reminder of our rich heritage and perhaps even a small gesture of gratitude to the American women who have preserved and resurrected South Asia’s ancient art in the US: Adeline Pepper Gibson, Stella Kramrisch and Darielle Mason.