Due to changes in Chaitanya Sambrani’s travel plans, this event has been postponed until further notice. Thank you for your understanding.
How might art schools be formative in the writing and teaching of comparative histories? In this talk, art historian Chaitanya Sambrani discusses the role of art schools in shaping modern art in the mid-twentieth century, around the time of the independence and consolidation of nationalism in India and Indonesia. He offers a comparative reading between two schools where artist-educators sought to experiment with pedagogical models: the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (established in 1950), a highly influential school in shaping art currents in postcolonial India, and the Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain, Bandung (whose predecessor was established in 1947). Sambrani explores how artist-educators of this period negotiated internationalist and indigenous approaches to art practice and pedagogy, and how these case studies are relevant to contemporary discussions around art pedagogy.
Using archival materials from his research and AAA’s Collection, this talk draws on Sambrani’s most recent book, At Home in the World: The Art and Life of Gulammohammed Sheikh (Tulika Books in association with Vadehra Art Gallery, 2019), the first comprehensive study on the life of the influential Baroda-based artist and educator. It also refers to Sambrani’s current research titled International Affiliations and Cosmopolitan Aspirations, which compares the modernisms and projects of imagination in India and Indonesia.
This programme is part of AAA’s ongoing research on art pedagogy.
Free and open to the public with registration.
Dr Chaitanya Sambrani is an art historian and curator with a special interest in modern and contemporary art in Asia. He currently teaches at the Australian National University, Canberra. Sambrani holds an MA in Art Criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and a PhD in Art History and Curatorship from the Australian National University. His work has been featured in major publications, exhibitions, and conferences in Australia, India, China, Korea, Singapore, and the USA. His curatorial projects include Savanhdary Vongpoothorn: All that Arises (Canberra, 2019), To Let the World In: Narrative and Beyond in Contemporary Indian Art (Chennai, 2012); Place · Time · Play: Contemporary art from the West Heavens to the Middle Kingdom (Shanghai, 2010); and Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India (Perth, New York, Mexico City, Monterrey, Berkeley, New Delhi, Mumbai, 2004–7).
