"The Arts & Crafts of India & Ceylon" by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is a detailed exploration of the rich artistic traditions of India and Sri Lanka, originally published in 1913. As a pioneering scholar in Indian art, Coomaraswamy provides a comprehensive survey of the various forms of artistic expression found in these regions, including architecture, sculpture, painting, and handicrafts. He places special emphasis on the spiritual and cultural significance behind the crafts, arguing that they are an integral part of the daily and religious life of the people. This work is celebrated for its scholarly insight and contribution to the understanding of South Asian art history.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) was a pioneering figure in the field of Indian art history and philosophy. Born in Sri Lanka and educated in England, he made significant contributions to the understanding and appreciation of Indian art and culture. Coomaraswamy's works delved into various aspects of Indian art, architecture, symbolism, and aesthetics, emphasizing the spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of artistic expression. His writings, which spanned topics such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and traditional craftsmanship, helped bridge the gap between Eastern and Western perspectives on art. Coomaraswamy's profound insights continue to inspire scholars, artists, and enthusiasts worldwide, leaving an enduring legacy in the study of Indian art and philosophy.
THE purpose of this book, like that of Professor Flinders Petrie in the same series, is to facilitate the understanding of the art it illustrates. It is intended for ordinary persons rather than for arachnological specialists. The pages are not burdened with references; but no statement has been made without careful consideration or specific authority. The value of a small book must depend on its suggestiveness rather than on its completeness: but it must not be for-gotten that what is here said is but a mere summary of a vast subject: each sentence could be expanded to a chapter, each chapter to a monograph. If the first chapter should appear longing proportion to those which describe the actual works, which are after all best described in the illustrations, it is because in order to account for Indian, just as for Gothic, "we have to account for its historic basis and for the whole atmosphere of mysticism, chivalry, and work enthusiasm, with all the institutions, romantic and social, which formed its environment" (Professor Lethaby, Medieval Art).
The scope of the book is indicated in its title. Ceylon, from the standpoint of ethnology and culture, is an integral part of India. I have passed beyond the Indian boundary only to include the sculpture of Java and Cambodia, the most important of the Indian colonies: I have not discussed either the architecture or the minor crafts of these countries, nor of Cambodia, Siam, or Burma, although Burma is now politically united to India. On the other hand, since the Himalayas are the natural boundary, the art of Nepal, whence come so many fine works often de-scribed as Tibetan, is rightly called Indian.
That the work is divided into two parts, the first concerned with Hindu and Buddhist art, the latter with the Musulman arts, is solely to facilitate an understanding of their historical relations and psycho-logical development: I do not forget that in almost every art and craft, as also in music, there exists in Hindustan a complete and friendly fusion of the two cultures. The non-sectarian character of the styles of Indian art has indeed always been conspicuous; so that it is often only by special details that one can distinguish Jain from Buddhist stupas, Buddhist from Hindu sculpture, or the Hindu from the Musulman minor crafts. The one great distinction of Mughal from Hindu art is not so much racial as social; the former is an art of courts and connoisseurs, owing much to individual patronage, the latter belongs as much to the folk as to the kings.
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