Art in Focus: the Legend of Krishna
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Art in Focus: The Legend of Krishna A Workshop for Educators February 25, 2006 Acknowledgments WORKSHOP MATERIALS PREPARED BY : Stephanie Kao, School Programs Coordinator, Asian Art Museum Alina Collier, Education Resources Coordinator, Asian Art Museum Bindu Gude, Assistant Curator of South Asian Art, Asian Art Museum Brian Hogarth, Director of Education, Asian Art Museum WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF : Forrest McGill, Chief Curator and Wattis Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Asian Art Museum Kristina Youso, Editor Jason Jose, Graphics Specialist, Asian Art Museum Kaz Tsuruta, Museum Photographer, Asian Art Museum Special thanks go to Bindu Gude, Assistant Curator of South Asian Art, for the selection of literary quotes featured in this packet. The Asian Art Museum’s school programs are supported by the Citigroup Foundation. The museum’s edu - cational programs and activities are also supported by a major grant from the Freeman Foundation, as well as by support from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Stanley S. Langendorf Foundation, Joseph R. McMicking Foundation, and the Mary Tanenbaum Fund. Major support for AsiaAlive has been provided by The Wallace Foundation, Wells Fargo, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services by an Act of Congress. Cover: Krishna driving Arjuna’s chariot, approx. 1750–1825. India; Kashmir state. Colors on paper. Gift of Margaret Polak, 1996.6 1 Table of Contents 3 A Note to the Reader 5 Introduction to South Asian Painting 8 Krishna in South Asian Painting • The Divine Krishna • A Journey of Devotion • Sacred Texts 11 The Krishna Legend • The Krishna Legend: An Introduction • The Legend: Krishna’s Childhood Art in Focus: Krishna’s Childhood • The Legend: Krishna’s Youth Art in Focus: Krishna’s Youth • The Legend: Krishna’s Adulthood Art in Focus: Krishna’s Adulthood • The Legend: Krishna’s Mature Life Art in Focus: Krishna’s Mature Life 33 Suggested Activities for the Classroom 73 Bibliography 75 Map of India 2 A Note to the Reader By Brian Hogarth A Note to the Reader Dear Educator, We are pleased to present you with this new packet of posters on the theme of Krishna stories repre - sented in South Asian paintings from the Asian Art Museum collections. The posters are accompa - nied by background materials prepared by Stephanie Kao, School Programs Coordinator, and suggested activities prepared by Alina Collier, Education Resources Coordinator. Today we associate stories with movie characters, television programs, or well-loved illustrated children’s books. But throughout most of human history, stories were committed to memory and meant to be recounted before a live audience. Storytelling still has the potential to move us when it is transmitted through the human voice with all its expressive potential. Storytelling traditions abound throughout the many cultures of the world, and these traditions have provided the raw material for many of our great works of literature. Along the way, oral narra - tives, and written versions of these stories, have also provided rich possibilities for visual artists. Pictorial expressions of stories often take into account local narrative variations, as well as stylistic interpretations unique to the artists’ environment. India abounds with stories, so many of which recount the exploits of its innumerable gods and goddesses. Among these deities, Krishna—a descent or incarnation of the god Vishnu— is espe - cially popular. Unlike some divine figures, who seem to appear in association with only a few important events, Krishna figures in a multitude of stories. Historically in India, the increasing popularity of Krishna over the course of several centuries is associated with the rise of religious devotionalism. Devotionalism is the desire by worshippers to make a strong personal connection to a deity, and particularly to an image of that deity. The images that you see in these posters were often inspired by devotional literature, and they were usually com - missioned for use in private settings as portfolios assembled in books or albums. As posters, the images have been blown up beyond their original size, so that students will be able to see many of the details more clearly. The originals are generally small in scale and intimate in appearance. We hope that you will be able to use these images for a variety of purposes, relating them to your curriculum in language arts, mythology, world religions, and of course art. It is hoped that stu - dents find in the stories represented here timeless themes of childhood, heroic acts, love, selflessness, and duty. Brian Hogarth Director of Education Spring 2006 4 Introduction to South Asian Painting By Bindu Gude Introduction to South Asian Painting By Bindu Gude South Asian painting traditions encompass a wide variety of regional styles, subject matter, and artistic techniques. In its most narrowly defined sense, the term “South Asian painting” refers to religious and secular works that were produced on paper or cloth for elite courtly patrons from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Paintings on palm-leaf are known from as early as the eleventh century, but these served as illustrations which were clearly secondary to the religious texts that they accompanied. In its most broad characterization, “South Asian painting” includes not only these earliest manuscript illustrations but also non-elite painting traditions such as those practiced by various South Asian villagers to this day. The conquest of northern India by Muslim armies, beginning in the twelfth century, had a pro - found effect on South Asian painting which, until this period, had been restricted to the illustration of religious manuscripts on palm leaves. With the introduction of Muslim rule into parts of India came also the introduction of bound books, embellished with calligraphy and decorative ornament, and the establishment of studios versed in their production. By the sixteenth century, many of these workshops employed artists to create miniature paintings illustrating various literary works. At this time, paintings at South Asia’s Hindu courts indicate some adoption of the innovations introduced by Muslim manuscripts. Palm-leaf had long been abandoned in favor of paper, for instance, which provided a larger surface area for illustrations. Unlike Muslim manuscripts however, in which illus - trations were integrated with the accompanying text, Hindu productions favored illustrations over the text, which was often inscribed on the reverse side of the paintings or reduced to a short verse placed above or below each illustration. Furthermore, Hindu manuscripts were never bound, unlike their Muslim counterparts. Instead, the individual leaves of a given manuscript were stacked and wrapped in cloth for safekeeping. The audiences for both types of manuscripts would have been the same, however. The small and delicate manuscripts were ideally suited to intimate viewing experi - ences involving the patron and a close circle of associates. Paintings associated with South Asia’s Hindu courts display a bewildering variety of styles which are broadly understood as falling into two subgroups, Rajasthani—referring to works produced in Stealing of the wish-fulfilling tree (detail), 1700–1800. India; former kingdom of Malwa, Madhya Pradesh state. Ink and colors on paper. Gift of George Hopper Fitch, R1998.2.4 6 Rajasthan and central India—and Pahari—referring to works produced in the Himalayan foothills. Both stylistic groups are considered distinct from contemporary Muslim painting styles of the mid- sixteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. In the most general terms, Rajasthani and Pahari paintings are less naturalistic in appearance than Muslim paintings, particularly those associated with the Mughal dynasty. Their pictorial space tends to be shallow, with little indication of depth. Backgrounds consist of large swaths of color against which the details of the illustration are highlighted with bright colors, bold lines, and deco - rative patterning. Whereas the naturalism of Mughal painting appears to reflect the greater Muslim interest in historical accuracy, Rajasthani and Pahari paintings express in their rejection of such nat - uralism an alternate world populated by gods, heroes, and heroines. Thus, colors are selected for their evocative potential and visual impact, and details such as the bodies of the gods are based on local visual formulas. The ultimate goal of such paintings, which are startlingly straightforward visual descriptions, is to present the clearest possible view of all the features of the story being illus - trated. As South Asian art often employs continuous narration, in which several episodes from a story are illustrated in one scene, identifying labels are sometimes added to assist in the painting’s comprehension. To some extent, the subject matter and visual concerns which occupied South Asian court painters also informed village artists and continue to do so today. Works by the well-known painters from Mithila, which have been adapted onto paper from ritual wall paintings, indicate a continued interest in the life of the Hindu god Krishna. Poetry and literature describing Krishna’s life are among the earliest surviving illustrated Hindu texts. Krishna’s unwavering popularity over many centuries is due in part to the fact that this all-powerful god is presented in devotional texts with very human characteristics. In articulating tales from Krishna’s life, Mithila painters adhere to the clarity of vision that Rajasthani and Pahari paintings also achieved. 7 Krishna in South Asian Painting • The Divine Krishna • A Journey of Devotion • Sacred Texts By Stephanie Kao Krishna in South Asian Painting By Stephanie Kao Observed in intimate venues and set carefully in the hands of the viewer, South Asian miniature paintings illustrating sacred Hindu texts lure the eyes and, in turn, one’s spirit into the vast and mysterious world of the divine. For contained within these compact pictorials, a pantheon of Hindu gods, and a myriad of supernatural beings, manifest themselves on earth to engage in divine play (lila ) with human beings. Of these encounters, one god in particular has enraptured the minds and hearts of Hindus.