About the Program
Please join Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose, the Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, as she discusses the artistic traditions of the Vaishnava Pushtimarg sect. Based in the temple town of Nathdwara in India, these hereditary artists are renowned for having preserved painting traditions in an unbroken legacy for more than four centuries. The focus of their art are large pichvais (textile hangings) and miniature paintings depicting the festivals and rituals of the sect. This talk introduces the art of the Pushtimarg and celebrates the artists who are keeping the tradition alive today through their organization, the Artists of Nathdwara (https://theartistsofnathdwara.org).
About the Artist/Speaker
Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose is the inaugural Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since joining the museum in 2007, she has curated a series of exhibitions including the site-specific Public Notice 3 by Jitish Kallat (2010–11); The Last Harvest: The Art of Rabindranath Tagore (2012); Nilima Sheikh: Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams (2014); Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings (2015–2016); India Modern: The Paintings of M.F. Husain (2017–18) and Ornamental Traditions: Jewelry from Bukhara (2018–2019).
Dr. Ghose led the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence (2012–16), a four-year project funded by a grant from the Government of India that was designed to foster professional exchanges between the Art Institute and various museums in India. In 2020/21, she organized a series of virtual workshops on museum curation for the American Institute of Indian Studies as a part of the Strengthening US-India Professional Collaboration initiative supported by the US Mission to India. Until recently she has served on the board of trustees of the American Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and is the recipient of the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) fellowship (Class of 2020).
Dr. Ghose was previously Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. She completed her doctoral dissertation from the University of London and was a Research Fellow at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University. Her current research interests include the art of the Pushtimarg sect, the Indian cultural doyenne Pupul Jayakar, and Deccani textiles.
Registration Details
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