Oxford University Press presents Reading Indian Art: Texts and Contexts – a conversation between art historians B.N. Goswamy and Ashok Vajpeyi and art writer Rosalyn D’Mello.

The speakers will delve into the complex world of  Indian art — its long history, wide range of artistic  practices, aesthetic theories, iconographies, and even the changing relationships between  artists and patrons. Documentation is  remarkably thin; to understand it one has to go back to oral histories and scattered early writings. There is fascination in this history, alike for the art historian and the collector.  But is there enough in it to interest the artist,  or the critic, or the connoisseur of today? Does this reading, this engagement with the past, prepare us to negotiate the present?  

The talk will be followed by a book launch and signing of Oxford Readings in Indian Art which traces the long, rich and varied tradition of reflections on Indian art. Organised into thematic sections, the  contributions range from texts on iconography and aesthetics and excerpts bearing upon  our understanding of patronage and artistic practices, to information on artists and early  writings that have shaped our thinking on Indian art.