India and British Art: 1757-1947

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Luke Uglow
• Assessment: a 3000-word essay (100%)

In this module we explore the intersections of art and imperialism in India and Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will think about the ways in which aesthetic practices were active in the wider strategies of British power and Indian resistance, and how the fraught Anglo-Indian encounters in this period sparked new visual forms, artistic identities and spaces of production.

We will not only examine the work of British artists who travelled to the Indian subcontinent, but also consider the transformations in artistic production, patronage and publics for indigenous South Asian artists. We will look at a wide range of visual material (photographs, prints, sculpture, architecture, painting and drawing) and institutions of art, utilise different methodological and theoretical perspectives which can help us address the intertwined indigenous and imperial visual cultures of South Asia, and talk about the relevance that this material has for thinking about the projection of global power in today’s world.

Indicative syllabus

• Identity: nabobs
• Collecting: the art market
• Landscape: William Hodges (1744-1797)
• Company Painting: The Impey Album (1777-1782)
• Exhibitions in Britain: colonial display
• Art Schools in India: Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906)
• Photography: Samuel Bourne, Lala Deen Dayal, Felice Beato
• Architecture: New Delhi and Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944)

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of artworks, exhibitions, art institutions or other visual forms produced in and of South Asia 1757-1947
• visually analyse artworks, exhibitions, art institutions or other visual forms produced in and of South Asia 1757-1947
• understand current methodological and theoretical approaches to imperialism and colonial cultures within art history
• apply your knowledge of the history of British colonial rule in South Asia as context for analysing artworks, exhibitions, art institutions or other visual forms produced in and of South Asia 1757-1947.