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Indian art

Curator's Corner

International Dance Day 2024

Monday, April 29, 2024 | Karl Cole

I cannot think of a more joyous April sendoff than art that features dancing in celebration of International Dance Day. The International Theater Institute began International Dance Day on April 29, 1 ...

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Curator's Corner

National Garden Month: Amer Fort

Monday, April 1, 2024 | Karl Cole

I can’t think of a more appropriate month for National Garden Month than April, when we are fresh from winter and want to go outside and see flowers. April was first declared National Garden Mon ...

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Curator's Corner

Saying Goodbye to World Watercolor Month 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023 | Karl Cole

Watercolor can be a very unforgiving medium—boy, don’t I know it! I started out studying for an MFA in painting using gouache and watercolor, but my professors suggested that what I was tr ...

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Curator's Corner

Do Not Deface! Historic Sites to Visit Respectfully

Monday, July 24, 2023 | Karl Cole

As an art historian and artist, I am appalled by recent incidents of tourists defacing the Colosseum (72–80 CE) in Rome and Toshodai-ji (founded 759 CE) in Nara, Japan, with their initials. It i ...

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Curator's Corner

Rain, Rain Go Away?: Tanya Goel

Monday, August 29, 2022 | Karl Cole

Some parts of the U.S. are experiencing too much rain, while others are in drought situations (as we are in Massachusetts). Well, the extremely hot weather worldwide, linked with the combined bamboozl ...

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Curator's Corner

Muthanna: Calligraphic Mirror Writing

Monday, January 31, 2022 | Karl Cole

I’m celebrating two national days today with this beautiful calligraphy—National Backward Day and National Inspire your Heart with Art Day. What better way than with an image of calligraph ...

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Curator's Corner

Romance Awareness Month: Egypt, Rene Magritte, Mughal Period

Monday, August 23, 2021 | Karl Cole

As is obvious from art even from the distant ancient world, the ideas of romance, affection, and love were not inventions of modern humans. And there are many ideas through art history about how to de ...

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Curator's Corner

How Art Looks at Age

Monday, August 9, 2021 | Karl Cole

Having made my weekly visit to my dear friend Alice in a senior residence—where she was committed by a state conservator—I began thinking about how society perceives older (and I refuse to ...

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Curator's Corner

World Watercolor Month: Kota School

Monday, July 12, 2021 | Karl Cole

I imagine July is World Watercolor Month because many artists take advantage of the beautiful summer weather to paint out of doors. I never fail to admire artists who achieve amazing works in this med ...

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Curator's Corner

Rethinking Classicism: Chola Dynasty

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 | Karl Cole

I’m continuing my investigation into different ways of interpreting classicism in art with a look at a classic style from India. Most major encyclopedic museums likely have in their collections ...

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Curator's Corner

July Gem of the Month: Chitrakathi

Monday, July 6, 2020 | Karl Cole

July is World Watercolor Month. Watercolor is a medium I’ve always admired (as you know from my drooling over Winslow Homer’s and John Singer Sargent’s gorgeous watercolor works), bu ...

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Curator's Corner

Daylight Saving Time Gone: Night

Wednesday, November 6, 2019 | Karl Cole

Monday, I celebrated dusk in works of art to mark moving the clocks back over the weekend. Today, no more dusk. Now to show you a couple of interesting night scenes. ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Mughal Architecture

Monday, July 29, 2019 | Karl Cole

Aside from painting, architecture is one of the most stunning legacies of the Mughal Empire that ruled most of India between 1526 and (technically) 1857, when it was dissolved by the British East Indi ...

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Curator's Corner

Earth Appreciation Month: Rajput Painting

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | Karl Cole

There is nothing I like more than the colors of nature awakening to spring. I especially love the arrays of greens that are seen in the grass, foliage, and trees. To celebrate Earth Appreciation Month ...

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Curator's Corner

Architecture as Sculpture: Hoysala Empire

Monday, April 30, 2018 | Karl Cole

When Western art history books talk about “architectural sculpture,” it is usually in the context of Romanesque and Gothic churches/cathedrals in Europe. When one is looking at temple arch ...

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Curator's Corner

What's in a Snake 2: Deccan Painting

Tuesday, February 7, 2017 | Karl Cole

Yesterday I introduced the snake as a subject in art. Here’s an example of a sinister serpent/person in Hindu tradition. Aghasura was a demon follower of the evil (pseudo-demon) king Kamsa (of M ...

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