The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works 1100 -1900

Wonderfully executed

Absolutely stunning ! The author explains the art in such a simple and elegant manner that even an art novice like me can almost delude myself into thinking that perhaps I can understand at least some of the beauty of these paintings. How I wish there was an even larger sized book with all these paintings in their full glory !

Il libro è esattamente ciò che mi aspettavo, contiene una serie di illustrazioni indiane di varie epoche con le relative descrizioni.Sfortunatamente non sono riuscito a trovare libri di questo genere in italiano e ho comprato questo in inglese, che risulta comunque di facile comprensione anche per chi ha una conoscenza media dell'inglese

A great book penned by a great art historian. I take pride as he was my professor too back in Panjab University, Chandigarh. Love it, page after page :)

This is a wonderful book by well-known art historian B N Goswamy. It really is the culmination of a lifetime of scholarly effort curating and studying Indian art. Indian art has always been classified in terms of the wealthy patrons who sponsored it. We've never been able to refer to our Michelangelo-s or Caravaggio-s because the artists often came from extremely humble backgrounds (in old India, from humble castes) and were probably forbidden from even signing their work. Dr. Goswamy tries to pierce the shroud of silence surrounding the artists themselves and in this book he looks at 101 paintings (only painted work on paper is featured) through the lens of the artists who made them. The focus is very Northern (Persian, Mughal, Rajasthani, Punjabi, some Gujarati and Bengali), basically nothing south of the Deccan (except for the single work from Mysore). That still does not take away from the aesthetic wonderland that this book offers. The works are loosely grouped under Visions (painting abstract concepts and mythologies), Observations (sights and scenes), Passions (poetic moods both serene and frenetic) and Contemplation (quiet and intense). There are well-written 2 -3 page essays deconstructing every painting. The paper is high quality and the print is really nice with vivid colors. I wish the book were coffee table sized (rather than 9.5 x 7.1 inches) so I could really look at some of the detail, but I do think I am nitpicking. This book will give me a lifetime of pleasure.

This book gives a unique insight into the many art disciplines of Indian art. Beautifully written, imaginative and creative. A good choice for any lover of eastern art.