Executive Master in Art Market Studies University of Zürich, May 2013 Indian Art Deco An Ambivalent Feeling Towards Western Modernity Denise Marroquin This work has been supervised by Ghislaine Wood, Senior curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum and Dr. Nicolas Galley, Director of the Executive Master in Art Market Studies, University of Zürich. Executive Master in Art Market Studies University of Zürich I hereby certify that this Master’s Thesis has been composed by myself, and describes my own work, unless otherwise acknowledged in the text. All references and verbatim extracts have been quoted, and all sources of information have been specifically acknowledged. This Master’s Thesis has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree. Geneva, June 2013 Denise Marroquin 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 5 Chapter I The Dissemination of the Art Deco Style 1.1. Art Deco as an international phenomenon 7 1.2.The spread of the style in India: an attempt at explaining 14 1.3 The commercialization and the public 22 Chapter II The Modern Style “Made in India” 2.1. Designers and manufactures 32 2.2. Major references: European and Americans 42 2.3. “Westernization” in the applied arts: press’ reception 67 Chapter III The Indian Manner1 3.1 A quest for national identity 69 3.2 Jewellery, fashion, silver and bidri 74 3.3 Furniture and carpet 89 Conclusion 102 Bibliography 104 List of Illustrations 125 1 Expression borrowed to the following article: Alida 1937 Alida “Modern Decoration in the Indian Manner”; in: The Illustrated Weekly of India, October 3rd 1937, p. 61. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to Ghislaine Wood MA, Senior Curator, Research Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum; Dr. Amin Jaffer, International Director of Asian Art at Christie’s; Dr. Nicolas Galley, Director of the Executive Master in Art Market Studies, University of Zürich; Vincent Krenz MA, Senior Specialist & Lecturer in the Executive Master in Art Market Studies Program, University of Zürich; Michael Backman from Michael Backman Ltd.; Prof. Rahul Mehrotra, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; Prof. Partha Mitter, Oxford University; Ayesha Abdur-Rahman, Founding Director at Lanka Decorative Arts; Prof. Sunil Sharma, Boston University, Saffronart; Issa Farooq from Philipps Antiques; the British Library; the Newspaper Library; the Art National Library; the Indian Office Records and the Rietberg Museum Library; the Wolfsonian Museum and Anuita Woodhull for the lecture and corrections to the text, which gave it clarity and legibility. 4 INTRODUCTION “Why not in India?”2 Today, there are countless publications devoted solely to the study of Art Deco. However, these predominantly cover Art Deco in France and the United States. Published works on Art Deco in Germany and Italy remain scarce, which could be explained by the nature of the political regimes in these countries at the time. Still less has been published about Art Deco in Latin America and Asia. The research undertaken for this thesis shows that Art Deco was strongest in France and influenced the art and design of many countries, including Italy, Germany, many in North and Latin America, Japan, China and finally India.3 The various manifestations of an Art Deco style in each of these geographical areas are related by a common syntax stylistically, but differ in the details. In his publication Art Deco Style, Steven Escritt observed, “in India too the Modern Movement was having a limited impact”.4 Escritt’s observation of a “limited impact” is questionable. It may be true that little has been written about Art Deco in India and there are no publications dedicated solely to the study of Indian Art Deco. However, there is some writing on Art Deco as it appears in numerous aspects of Indian design and architecture. In the area of architecture, scholars such as Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra (1995), as well as Norma Evenson (1989) were interested in the influence of Art Deco especially in the architecture of Bombay. John Alff (1997 & 1998), David Vinnels and Brent Skelly (2002) in particular, have examined the Art Deco style in the architecture of film theatres. There have been monographs dedicated to artists and designers active in India. These include a study about Eckart Muthesius by Reto Niggl (1996), a collection of articles as well as a documentary about Stefan Norblin in India (1996 & 2012) and a study of the jewellery of Ambaji Shinde by Reema Keswami (2004). Others have focused their research on particular palaces, one notable study being on the Umaid Bhawan Palace by Fred Holmes and Ann Newton Holmes (1995). In contrast, in the Indian decorative arts, 2 Heading of an article in: The Illustrated Weekly of India, April 24th 1938, p. 41. 3 Benton/ Wood 2010 [2002] Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton and Ghislaine Wood, Art Déco 1910-1939; Bruxelles, Renaissance du Livre, 2010. 4 Hillier/ Escritt 2000 [1997] Bevis Hillier and Stephen Escritt, Art Deco Style; London, Phaidon, 2000, p. 204. 5 almost nothing has been written on the influence of Art Deco with the exception of Amin Jaffer’s article “Indo-Deco” (2002). Today there is an emerging interest in this particular period of Indian art and design history. For instance, some citizens groups and civic authorities are looking to have it declared that the Art Deco buildings in Bombay are protected UNESCO world heritage sites. To this end, there have been panel discussions, modest exhibitions on the subject and more Art Deco objects are appearing in the market.5 Notwithstanding the relative scarcity of published work on the subject, there can be no doubt that the Modern Movement had a strong influence on art and design in India. One of the aims of this thesis is to show the deep impact of the Art Deco style in India on the applied arts: jewellery, silver, fashion, furniture and carpets. I have used an approach inspired by Amin Jaffer’s publication Furniture from British India and Ceylon in which the author posed a list of questions that work well as a structure for this study: “Who produced such things and where? How did the makers obtain the designs on which the furniture is based? Was there direct European involvement in the production of such objects? What sort of people owned such furniture and how was it regarded? How was it acquired?”6 One major difficulty was finding sufficient objects. Some work is held in museums, and from time to time, Art Deco pieces surface at auctions and through art dealers. As far as I am aware, there is no substantial public collection on which this work could be based. Nevertheless, I believe there is enough material to advance the research in this area. As a starting point, it is important to explore how the Art Deco style reached India and how it was spread. This leads to focusing attention on local designers in India and how their style was influenced by Art Deco and its dissemination. Finally, it is considered how, in spite of a common language with the West, the adoption of the style in India gave birth to its own unique and differentiated Indian Art Deco style. 5 In January 2013, a panel discussion was organized in Bombay on the topic; in addition a small exhibition was planned by the conservator Mahendra Doshi & Family called “The Return to Innocence” displaying colonial & Art Deco furniture in the Prince of Wales Museum, from 23-27 February 2013. Furthermore, an auction of Art Deco items was held by Saffronart Mumbai from 31st October -1st November 2012. 6 Jaffer 2001 Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon; London, V&A publications, 2001, p. 14. 6 CHAPTER I THE DISSEMINATION OF THE ART DECO STYLE 1.1. Art Deco as an international phenomenon The arrival of the Modern Movement in India was a direct result of the extraordinary expansion and influence of the “French style” in the international arena. How is the successful expansion of French Art Deco qualified throughout the world and by what means was it achieved? Understanding the historical and economic background of the French nation at that time is essential to understanding the spectacular spread of the Art Deco style, including the various specific circumstances that helped precipitate the adoption of the style all over the world. France in the 1920s, was still a country crippled by the devastation of two wars: the Franco-Prussian War (1870), when it was humiliated by the loss of the Alsace-Moselle territory, and the First World War (1914-1918) which left it an economic ruin. In this post war period of rebuilding, France was not only striving to revive its culture and “national identity of Frenchness”,7 but, also crucially, to recover its economic strength. From this came a rise in French nationalism. Like a phoenix that had risen from the ashes, the words in the Guide Album de l’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes of 1925 announced a renaissance in France: “la guerre […] a indirectement preparé le relèvement par le prestige extraordinaire qu’elle a donné à tout ce qui est français.”8 The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs, first scheduled to take place in 1916 had to be postponed in the face of the First World War and was eventually held in 1925. From the very beginning, the intention was that it was to be an international exhibition where France would demonstrate to the world that it was recovering its status as a world power both politically and commercially. 7 Lebovics 1994 [1992] Herman Lebovics, True France. The Wars over Cultural Identity 1900-1945; Ithaca Cornell Paperbacks, 1994, p.