University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Art: Middle Eastern, African, and Asian Art

Mughal India

J. P. Losty; Malini Roy — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Published to accompany a major British Library exhibition, Mughal India showcases the British Library’s extensive collection of illustrated manuscripts and paintings commissioned by Mughal emperors and other officials. Depicting the splendor and vibrant color of Mughal life, the exquisitely decorated works span four centuries, from the foundation of the Mughal dynasty by Babur in the sixteenth century, through the heights of the empire and the “Great” Mughal emperors of the seventeenth century, into the decline and eventual collapse in the nineteenth century.

The lavish artworks cover a variety of subject matter, from scenes of courtly life to illustrations of works of literature. The development of a Mughal style of art can be traced through the illustrations and paintings, as can the influence of European styles. Many of these works have never before been published, and combined here with the engaging narrative of two experts who place each image within its historical and art historical context, they serve to provide us with a beautiful and illuminating view of the art and culture of Mughal India.

IntroSpection

Beate Reifenscheid — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Abstract art is poised for widespread popularity in China, its appeal in recent years increased by the artists like Xiao Hui Wang and Wang Xiaosong, whose work created a sensation as part of the Collateral Events of the 2012 Venice Biennale. The two-volume Introspection looks at both of these important Chinese artists. Photo artist Xiao Hui Wang creates digitally enhanced and seemingly abstract photographic works that are closely linked to the pictorial tradition of Chinese culture. Her most recent work explores the nanocosmos. Wang Xiaosong is an installation artist whose practice includes painting and video and whose most recent exhibition sees him addressing social issues, such as the collision between East and West and the crisis of faith in contemporary culture.

With one hundred full-color illustrations, Introspection analyzes the latest works by these two renowned artists.

Lives of the Mughal Emperors

John Reeve — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

One of the most powerful of all the world’s great dynasties, the Mughals ruled India for over three hundred years. Beginning in 1526, the first six emperors—Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb—invaded, lost, regained, and greatly expanded an empire that at its peak covered most of preindependent India. But the later rulers were seriously overstretched, increasingly lacking authority, resources, or ability, and by the time the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was deposed in 1857, the once-great dynasty held power over just the Red Fort in Delhi.

In The Lives of the Mughal Emperors, John Reeve tells the individual stories of the Mughal emperors and other key officials through the art that was produced at the time. The Mughals were great patrons of the arts, and Reeve reveals them to be not only an enormously powerful dynasty but also one beset by problems of opium and alcohol addiction, brutal familial infighting, and territorial pressures from other political powers. A beautifully illustrated introduction to the Mughal period, this volume will appeal to anyone interested in how the Mughals built and then lost a great empire.