Art and culture – Zahra's Blog + Brown Lady Art Collective

September 13, 2016

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned: the legend of the bell of Dōjō-ji – British Library Blog

This famous English saying – often misattributed to William Shakespeare, but actually a partially paraphrased quotation from William Congreve – could apply to many tragic tales from all over the world through the centuries. Here we will introduce a famous Japanese story featuring one such jilted woman, associated with the ancient temple of Dōjō-ji 道成寺 in Kii province (modern Wakayama) in Japan.

More: http://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2016/09/hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned-the-legend-of-the-bell-of-d%C5%8Dj%C5%8D-ji.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+asian-and-african+%28Asia+and+Africa%29

August 13, 2016August 25, 2016

Guru Nanak and the Monster Fish

July 26, 2016July 26, 2016

The Gazi Scroll of West Bengal

Painted on paper, mounted on cotton, scrolls such as these were used as visual props in storytelling performances in India approximately around 1800 AD.

Handprinted in Murshidabad, this scroll is around 13 meters in length, with 54 frames which narrate the story of Gazi and Manik – two Muslim saints or pirs.

Patua scroll artists use natural colours borrowed from leaves and fruits to create art work.

More: https://theheritagelab.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/the-gazi-scroll-of-west-bengal/

July 13, 2016

Exhibition: Monkey Tales: Apes and Monkeys in Asian Art Posted on July 11, 2016 by clarep Exhibition dates: 14 Jun 2016 to 30 Oct 2016, From Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford Blog

Exhibition dates: 14 Jun 2016 to 30 Oct 2016

Gallery 29 | Admission Free

2016 is the Year of the Monkey according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. While the lunar calendar and its twelve zodiac animals are distinct to East Asia, images of monkeys feature in the mythology, folklore, art and literature of many cultures around the globe.

This exhibition, drawn from the Ashmolean’s collections of Asian art, celebrates the Year of the Monkey by showing images of monkeys from across Asia. It includes depictions of monkeys in their natural environment and highlights two of the mythical monkey figures best known outside Asia: the Monkey King of Chinese literature and the Hindu monkey warrior Hanuman.

Monkeys in the wild

There are many different species of ape and monkey native to the forests and mountains of Asia, ranging from baboons in the Arabian Peninsula to orangutans in the rainforests of Borneo, long-armed gibbons in China and India, and many varieties of macaque across the whole region. They are widely celebrated in poetry and literature and represented in art.

More: http://www.ashmolean.org/ashwpress/easternart/2016/07/11/monkey-tales-apes-and-monkeys-in-asian-art-2/

July 1, 2016

The Sixteen Sacred Lands of Buddhism, San San May, Curator for Burmese, British Library

Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was brought up to become a king, but he left his life of great comfort after encountering the ‘four signs’: an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic. After six years of hardship, working to find the right spiritual path, he attained his ‘Great Enlightenment’, and became the Buddha. During the following forty-five years of his mission until he passed into Mahaparinirvana (the state of reaching the end of suffering) at the age of eighty, the Buddha walked widely throughout the northern districts of India, delivering his teachings to thebhikkhus (Buddhist monks) and laity in the places that he visited. The sixteen lands where he spent time during his long ministry can be found illustrated in many Burmese Buddhist cosmology manuscripts.

Shown below is a depiction of the sixteen sacred lands in a Burmese folding-book paper manuscript. The Buddha is seated in Bhumisparsa mudra (earth-touching posture) on a throne under the Bodhi tree at the centre. Around him are depicted the sixteen lands, with indications of the distances between the centre and each of these regions, varying from one day to two months of travel. The sixteen lands are labelled (clockwise from the top) Mithila, Sankassa, Jetuttara, Takkasila, Savatti, Kosambi, Kalinga, Mudu, Koliya, Kapilavastu, Campa, Varanasi, Rajagaha, Vesali, Pataliputta, and Pava.

More: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2016/07/the-sixteen-sacred-lands-of-buddhism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+asian-and-african+%28Asia+and+Africa%29

April 13, 2016

Issey Miyake’s technology-driven clothing designs on view in Tokyo from artdaily.com

TOKYO.- An exhibition devoted to designer Issey Miyake is on view until June 13, 2016 at the National Art Center, Tokyo. The Center has considered design to be an important exhibition theme since it opened in 2007 and is devoted to presenting a wide range of artistic expressions and proposing new perspectives. This exhibition, Miyake Issey Exhibition: The Work of Miyake Issey, promises to be an unprecedented event, focusing on the entirety of Miyake’s 45-year career, from 1970 to the present.
Miyake has consistently presented new methodologies and possibilities for making clothes, while always focusing on the future. It all began in 1960 when Miyake, a student at Tama Art University, sent a letter to the World Design Conference, which was being held for the first time in Japan that year. The letter took issue with the fact that clothing design was not included in the event. At that point, Miyake’s notion that clothing is not merely “fashion” ― i.e., something that changes with the times ― but a form of design that is closely connected to our lives on a much more universal level was already apparent. Miyake has always explored the relationship between a piece of cloth and the body, and the space that is created as a result, unrestricted by any existing framework. In addition, along with his team of designers, he persistently undertakes research and development to create clothing that combines both innovation and comfort.

This exhibition sheds light on Miyake’s ideas about making things and his approach to design by examining his entire career, from his earliest work to his latest projects, and his explorations of greater creative possibilities in the future. This exhibition provides viewers with an opportunity to expand the boundaries of their thought and stimulate their creativity, allowing everyone, young and old alike, to experience the joy of creation.

See more: http://artdaily.com/news/86448/Issey-Miyake-s-technology-driven-clothing-designs-on-view-in-Tokyo#.Vw4CGZMrKRu

April 12, 2016

Artistic visions of the Delhi Zenana by J.P. Losty Curator of Visual Arts, Emeritus – British Library Blog

Three interesting portraits on ivory of Mughal ladies of the imperial zenana were acquired by the Visual Arts section in 2012, now numbered Add.Or.5719-5721. All three were mounted in one frame with pasted down inscriptions below relating to the subject and the artist, while attached to the back of the frame were three envelopes which once contained the miniatures and which were written further particulars. The paintings were sold in Delhi in these envelopes in 1900 by Sultan Ahmad Khan, who styles himself the son of one painter Muhammad Fazl Khan and grandson of another painter Muhammad ‘Azim, both of whom are named as artists in the inscriptions. The purchaser must have put them into their present gilt frame and fortunately also preserved the various inscriptions and attestations. All three are supposed to be portraits of some of the wives of the Mughal Emperor Akbar II (r. 1806-37). For a more correct appreciation of who they might be, we rely on that invaluable on-line resource, The Royal Ark. None of these ladies’ names unfortunately appears among the numerous wives of Akbar II, but that does not necessarily detract from the validity of the inscriptions of artistic interest.

See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/12/artistic-visions-delhi-zenana.html#sthash.XpaRep9e.dpuf

April 12, 2016

Further Delhi paintings on ivory by J.P. Losty, Curator of Visual Arts (Emeritus) – British Library Blog

Previous posts on the subject of late Mughal or Delhi miniature paintings on ivory have dealt with portraits, with which the Visual Arts collection is well endowed. Not so well represented in the earlier collection are topographical paintings on ivory, so it was especially gratifying to be able to acquire two superb examples of the genre during my time as Curator of Visual Arts. See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2016/04/further-delhi-paintings-on-ivory.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+asian-and-african+%28Asia+and+Africa%29#sthash.wIWEDnVZ.dpuf

See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2016/04/further-delhi-paintings-on-ivory.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+asian-and-african+%28Asia+and+Africa%29#sthash.wIWEDnVZ.dpuf

March 30, 2016March 30, 2016

Coming Soon, ‘Tajdeed: Contemporary Arabic Stories in Translation’

ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

This Spring, The Common will be making a major contribution to Arabic literature in English translation:

tajdeeeeeeed The Amherst-based magazine, edited by Jennifer Acker, will soon be publishing a special issue “Tajdeed: Contemporary Arabic Stories in Translation.”

A launch event — coupled with The Common’s annual fundraiser — is scheduled for May 19 at NYU; you can sign up now online.

The event will feature “a night of drinks, canapés, and performed readings from The Common‘s special issue,” which will bring out excellent new translations of new work 25 authors from 15 countries across the Middle East.”

The issue was co-edited by Acker and Jordanian short-story writer Hisham Bustani, with an eye not just to bringing new Arabic literature into translation, but into joyous, sharp translation — with work by some of the best emerging Arabic-English translators. This collection is not for Arabists, but for English-language fictionophiles.

The “Tajdeed” (Renewal)…

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March 10, 2016

Asia Week New York opens with 45 extraordinary museum-quality exhibitions, Art Daily

NEW YORK, NY.- March 10th kicks off Asia Week New York, the extraordinary ten-day extravaganza that animates New York with a glorious array of prized Asian works of art.

Originating from every corner of the Asian continent, the artworks will be shown throughout Manhattan by international Asian art specialists starting March 10 through March 19. In the museum-quality presentations by 45 galleries, art lovers can take in the rarest and finest examples of painting, sculpture, bronzes, ceramics, jewelry, jade, textiles, prints and photographs from all over Asia.

“Each year at this time, just as the flavor of spring arrives in the air, another phenomenon electrifies the atmosphere of New York: Asia Week!” exclaims Lark Mason, Chairman of Asia Week New York 2016 and owner and founder of iGavel Auctions. “And each year, in-the-know aficionados look forward to this 10-day event with great expectation. And why shouldn’t they? Asia Week, now celebrating its seventh anniversary, is more exciting than ever.”

Organized by category and region, here is a roundup of the not-to-be-missed exhibitions by the participating galleries:

ANCIENT/AND OR CONTEMPORARY INDIAN, HIMALAYAN AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART

http://artdaily.com/news/85685/Asia-Week-New-York-opens-with-45-extraordinary-museum-quality-exhibitions-#.VuFmwpOLSRs

	roymanisha875 on The Enigmatic Image: Curious S…
	Omer on A Mughal Shahnamah – Bri…
	Brown Lady Art Colle… on A new manuscript of ‘Ina…
	Fares Amar Binjad on A new manuscript of ‘Ina…
	El Diván. – FA… on Love Charms, a Sufi poem/kafi…

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