Indian art and culture

May 7, 2023 through May 3, 2024 Santa Fe, NM- The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) is pleased to announce the 2023 Living Treasure award exhibition,Down Home: Anthony Lovato (Kewa/Santo Domingo Pueblo) opened on May 7. Lovato is a master jeweler known for his tufa-cast technique and signature design elements.Drawing from the MIAC permanent collection and the generosity of private lenders,Down Homebrings together decades of Lovato’s work. Selections detailing his trademark corn, horse, and hand motifs are complemented by individual masterpieces evoking family, migration, and cosmology.Importantly, the exhibition focuses onLovato’s interpretation of his own work. Visitors will leave not only with a deeper knowledge of jewelry making and tufa casting, but of Lovato as an artist, community member, and storyteller. As a complement to his artistic practice, Lovato is dedicated to working within his community, serving as an advocate for language revitalization, education, and the power of art to facilitate healing.In addition to showing Lovato’s innovative and always one-of-a-kind pendants, stamped necklaces, bracelets, rings, pins, and sculptural itemsthe exhibition also includes the work of his grandfather, Leo Coriz.“Anthony Lovato is a champion for his community," said Polly Nordstrand, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture executive director. “His commitment to keeping traditions alive is admirable and the museum is honored to showcase his work.”Lovato grew up around jewel...

In a catalogue entry on Vivan Sundaram’s 1966 exhibition in Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi, his former teacher at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (now Vadodara), the eminent artist and pedagogue K.G. Subramanyan, characterises his emergent oeuvre as “the living scene”. Subramanyan addresses Sundaram as a young artist boldly charting a distinctive path that engages with post-­independence India’s complex visual culture via “the old hurtling with the new, the naïve and the sophisticated, the sober and the hysterical”. Soon after this solo debut, Sundaram moved to London to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he was mentored by the British-American artist R.B. Kitaj. Activism beyond the classroom and the white cube became a part of Sundaram’s daily credo as he joined efforts to set up a commune for civil rights activists and even managed to get arrested at a certain point during his years in London. Sundaram made an outstanding suite of paintings in 1968, including South Africa and From Persian Miniatures to Stan Brakhage, which reveal his political acuity and experimental depth as he sensed revolutionary ferment in the aesthetic language of contemporary pop, Surrealist grammar and narrative figuration—steeped in the charged atmosphere of student protests, the anti-Apartheid movement in Britain, opposition to the Vietnam War, and Marxist thought. Vivan Sundaram (left) in front of Glass Mural (1989), at Shah House, Mumbai, with his co-creators of the work Na...

Indian Folk-art: An Expression of Cultural Diversity India is a religious and ethnically diverse country. Indian culture is characterized by distinct languages, and rich traditions among various ethnic and religious groups. Despite hosting a Hindu-majority it is difficult to attach a singular and unifying notion of identity to Indian culture. This is in part due to the flexible nature of the Hindu religion which allows for the aggregation of numerous regional cultures, and ethnic practices to grow and flourish. The folk and tribal arts of India express the cultural diversity of the nation and provide a window through which one can explore the rich heritage of Indian culture. 1 What is Folk-art? Folk-art as a visual medium does not have a unique definition but generally consists of all forms of visual art delivered in the context of an existent society within a particular geographical and cultural niche. In this manner, folk-art caters to local tastes and needs, is reflective of the way of life and culture in a community, and provides tangible and intangible forms of art with distinctive styles and objects that stand removed from other cultural developments of their time. 2 3 Intangible folk-art forms include music, dance, and narrative structures, while tangible folk-art forms refer to objects that are crafted by hand or other means within the traditional practices of a community. The purpose of folk-art is to serve as a medium through which a community’s traditions, belie...

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, one of four museums in the More than 65,000 visitors come to the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture each year, of which 30% hail from New Mexico, 50% from other states, and 20% from foreign countries. It is MIAC's mission to provide cross-cultural education to the many visitors to Santa Fe who take part in our programs and to New Mexican residents throughout the state. It is especially important that MIAC serve the Indian communities in our state and throughout the Southwest whose contemporary and ancestral cultures are represented in the museum's collections. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). AAM Accreditation is a seal of approval from the museum field that recognizes a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued institutional improvement. It also signifies that a museum fulfils its obligations to the public as set forth in its mission. Developed and sustained by museum professionals more than 40 years ago, AAM's museum accreditation program is the field's primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability. It strengthens individual museums and the entire field by promoting ethical and professional practices. Considering a visit to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture? What are you waiting for? We have nearly 300 reviews on TripAdvisor, and are ranked #6 of 93 attractions in Santa Fe! See ...

From early petroglyphs to a flourishing contemporary art scene, India’s vibrant artistic legacy is the result of a variety of cultural influences. The diversity of art from this area—which includes anything created in the historical regions of modern-day India, Bangladesh, and areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan—is reflected in vivid, distinct, and enchanting styles that represent many different civilizations. Because some of the world’s major religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam either began or flourished in India, much of Indian art is based in religious or political subject matter. Here, we uncover the history of Indian folk paintings, architecture, and sculpture, and explain how each evolved from the sociopolitical influences reflective of the period from which they originated. A Brief History of Indian Art Archaeologists discovered evidence of prehistoric rock art—carvings or drawings on cave rocks—in this area dating back cupules, which are non-utilitarian hemispherical cup-shaped depressions that are hammered out of the rock surface. This type of rock art was the primary form of cave painting throughout the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, often depicting animal and human forms. The earliest known Indian art sculptures were produced by the Indus Valley Civilization between 2,500 B.C. and 1,800 B.C. They created small terracotta and bronze figures that also represented humans and animals such as cows and monkeys. In the 6th century B.C., the ri...

Native American art, also called American Indian art, the visual art of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas, often called American Indians. For a further discussion of the visual art of the Americas produced in the period after European contact, see The nature and elements of Native American art The role of the The very use of the word art suggests one of the basic differences between European or European-derived and Although American Indian people may not have considered artistic skill in terms of a vocation, the difference between a well-woven basket and a careless piece of work or a particularly well-designed carving and a crudely made example did not go unnoticed. Fine workmanship commanded a premium long before European contact, and with the advent of the Collective versus individual art The basic role of the American Indian artist is the same as that of the artist in any culture: to arouse an emotional response in his or her audience. In Native American cultures, the artist’s ability to communicate successfully depended largely upon the recognition of the force of tradition. The social organization of the various tribes allowed less latitude for experimentation than Western cultures and usually compelled the artist to work in familiar channels. Yet, within this rigid framework of tradition, there was sometimes a surprising Origins of designs The origins of most Native American decorative designs cannot be traced accurately today; most of them are lost in antiq...

• Afrikaans • العربية • অসমীয়া • Asturianu • বাংলা • भोजपुरी • Български • བོད་ཡིག • Bosanski • Català • Čeština • Deutsch • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Gaeilge • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Italiano • Қазақша • Magyar • मराठी • 日本語 • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ • پنجابی • Polski • Português • Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски • Suomi • Svenska • ไทย • Tiếng Việt • v • t • e Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including The origin of Indian art can be traced to In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media and provides most of the best remains. Many of the most important ancient finds that are not in carved stone come from the surrounding, drier regions rather than India itself. Indian artist styles historically followed Early Indian art [ ] Rock art [ ] Main article: Despite its widespread and sophistication, the Indus Valley civilisation seems to have taken no interest in public large-scale art, unlike many other early civilizations. A number of gold, Much the most common form of figurative art found is small carved 3⁄ 4 inch to 1 1⁄ 2 inches square. In most cases they have a pierced boss at the back to accommodate a cord for handling or for use as personal adornment. Seals have been found at Mohenjo-Daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another, on the The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part zebra, w...