The author has minutely described the wood-carvings displayed on the doors, balconies, struts and columns found in thousands of traditional houses in Gujarat. Most of these houses are over hundred years old. A large part of the timber used for these carvings was imported over long distances by sea. Reflecting the lifestyle of inhabitants, these specimens of wooden architecture have been receiving increasing attention and appreciation of the connoisseurs. These works of art are unique in scale and quality for their outstanding woodwork.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vickram Singh Pramar
V.S. Pramar is an architect by profession, having studied at the Technical University, Munich. He joined the M. S. University of Baroda as a teacher specializing in the History of Architecture, both Indian and European, and retired as Head of the Department in 1986. He did his Ph.D. on the Wooden Architecture of Gujarat, and a copy of the thesis has been acquired by the Museum of Mankind, British Museum, London. His research resulted in a first book entitled Haveli - Wooden Houses and Mansions of Gujarat, a more general work, and now this exclusive study on Wood Carvings. The author has also published Design Fundamentals in Architecture, as also numerous scholarly articles in, for example, Artibus Asiae (New York); Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre (Italy); British Museum Occasional Papers (London); contributions to Indian Sociology (Delhi); MARG (Bombay); Journal of the Oriental Institute (Baroda); Architecture + Design (Delhi); etc. He was for some years a regular contributor to the Times of India, Bombay, and also one of their book reviewers on Indology. He was an invitee to the Festival of India in Britain in 1982.
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