Divine Visions Worldly Lovers
Mills College Art Museum
June 18−August 3, 2008
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 18, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Please join a special SACHI tea reception, 2.00-3.00 p.m.

Curator’s Walk-through and Lecture: Saturday, June 21, 3:00 p.m.
presented by Mills College Art Museum and SACHI

Mills College Art Museum
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, Ca. 94613

Divine Visions Worldly Lovers
Indian Paintings from the Collection of Barbara Janeff
Curated by Robert J. Del Bontà

The diverse deities of South Asia are major themes in Indian painting but romantic love also plays a large role in the intensely-colored, and often small-scale, works. Both of these themes can be seen repeated often in the Janeff collection of Indian paintings. This Bay-Area collection, which includes work from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, highlights many styles and trends found in Indian art. Indian artists constantly played with various painting approaches— conflicting ones such as realism and abstraction—and often within a single work.

Perhaps confusing at first, upon closer inspection this layering of artistic conventions can be subtle and sophisticated. With the advent of the Mughal style, associated with a Muslim dynasty founded in the sixteenth century and ultimately ruling most of North India, European realism was introduced, particularly in the portrait tradition. The accomplished academic style developed in Mughal ateliers combined Indian and Persian styles with Western realism.

A full-color illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.