HA227: Indian Painting

Discussion #2

Assignment for Friday, 20 September 2002

Our aim in this discussion section is to talk about narrative, drama, and the relationship between text and image. The assignment involves some advance planning on your part, so do not leave it until the night before it is due!

We will be talking about the early Akbar-period series of paintings called the Hamza-Nama (Story of Hamza). This manuscript is the subject of a lavish exhibition now at the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (it will travel to the Brooklyn Museum of Art in November). They have an excellent website http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/hamza.htm, and we have the (gorgeous) catalogue on reserve for the class (call number ND3399.Q5 S49 2002). I would like you to go to the website AND the catalogue (which gives more information) and choose a work from the exhibition. You are to write a 2-3 page formal analysis, in which you explain the story that is illustrated, analyzing how it is dramatized visually. Questions you might consider are:

• How do we know who is/are the main protagonist(s)?
• What role does scale play?
• How is the landscape and/or used?
• What direction does the narrative flow in, if at all?
• How are colors and details used?
• Are there details that do not correspond to the story? If so, what purpose might they serve?

Have fun with this! There are some amazing images, and they are jam-packed with terrific detail. Look carefully for everything you can find and enjoy the writing and looking.

For discussion section itself, I will bring a number of slides to class, some of which may or may not correspond to what you wrote about. You will, however, be able to contribute to the discussion, since many of the narrative conventions you will see in your work will surface in other works.

This assignment is to be handed in on Friday, September 20, in class.