WHAT: Individually scheduled press tours for “A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur”
WHEN: Through May 14 (including during Earth Month April 2023)
WHERE: Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. S.W.
WHO: Debra Diamond, Elizabeth Moynihan Curator for South Asian and Southeast Asian Art Dipti Khera, associate professor at New York University
Members of the media are invited to tour “A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur” at the National Museum of Asian Art (Nov. 19, 2022–May 14), presented in collaboration with The City Palace Museum in Udaipur administered by The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation. This major 17th–19th-century survey of works from the lake city of Udaipur in Rajasthan, India, brings together 63 works on paper, cotton and scrolls from collections across the world to reveal how artists sought to convey the sensory and lived experience of the lake city, and cultural values that include the exaltation of water and water-harvesting infrastructure. Many of the paintings have never been publicly exhibited or published. Including a soundscape by renowned experimental filmmaker Amit Dutta, it is the first in a series of exhibitions that celebrate the National Museum of Asian Art’s centennial in 2023.
Complementary Exhibition
The exhibition “Unstill Waters: Contemporary Photography from India” (Dec. 10, 2022–June 11) complements “A Splendid Land,” placing contemporary Indian art in dialogue with artworks from India’s past. “Unstill Waters” features 29 works by some of the most prominent artists working in India.
Note to editors: Media may contact Jennifer Mitchell at mitchellja@si.edu for more information or to schedule a time to interview the curators and tour the exhibitions.
