Indian Miniature Painting

In India hundreds of years ago, tiny paintings the size of a leaf held political, social and spiritual meaning. Visitors to the Brooklyn Museum of Art can currently enjoy a traveling exhibit called “The Adventures of Hamza” which perfectly displays this detailed tradition as it was employed in the late 1500’s. Meanwhile, and artist named Shahzia Sikander in Manhattan has taken the genre and turned it into something looser, but still small and jewel-like. Asia Society President Vishakha Desai explains. [Produced for PRI‘s “Studio 360“.]

Shahzia Sikander, “Ready to Leave” (1997). [Whitney Museum of American Art, New York]

• “Shona Bridge [Live at the London Zoo Aquarium – 1992 May 21]  – by Michael Brook