Sri Lanka: Connected Art Histories

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Ceylon, Ilangai, Lanka, Lakdiva, Seilan, Serendib, Simhaladvipa, Tambapanni, Taprobane-the island’s various names suggest that Sri Lanka has clearly meant different things to different people, and external contacts have been central to its history and conceptualization. Expanding and going beyond the standard Sinhala-Buddhist narratives, the essays in this volume look at resident communities and their contesting cultures and claims to the artistic heritages of this island.

At times approaching the island from the outside, at other times considering it from the inside, the writers locate the country’s identity in a dialectic between national traditions and transnational histories. An extensive introduction places these new essays within the historiography of Sri Lankan art that began with Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Though there remains much to explore and many new voices to listen to, this volume is a welcome first step in rethinking the art histories of the island.

Contents: 1. In Search of National Traditions: Mapping Sri Lanka’s Art Histories/Sujatha Arundathi Meegama. 2. Wherefore Does the Earth Quake? Artistic Exchange and the Construction of Buddhist Homelands in Andhra and Sri Lanka/Catherine Becker. 3. Beyond the Politics of Conquest: Brahmanical Iconography in Polonnaruva/R. Mahalakshmi. 4. Political Boundaries or Cultural Zones? Recontextualizing the Iconography of Post-Polonnaruva Buddha Images/Packiyanathan Ahilan. 5. Albrecht Durer in Sri Lanka: A 16th-Century Ivory-Carver’s Encounter with a European Print/Sujatha Arundathi Meegama. 6. Visualizing the Sinhala Buddhist Nation: The Temple Murals of Sarlis Master/T. Sanathanan. 7. Sea Change: George Keyt’s Murals at Gotami Vihara, 1939–40/Sonal Khullar. 8. This Island: The Idea of Landscape in Contemporary Sri Lankan Art/Sharmini Pereira.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sujatha Arundathi Meegama

Sujatha Arundathi Meegama is an Assistant Professor of art history at the School of Art, Design, and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her research interests range from connecting art histories in the Indian Ocean to the digital humanities.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Sri Lanka: Connected Art Histories
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
9789383243181
Length
148p., 130 Illustrations; 305x241mm.
Subjects