Museums (395-0-1)

Topic

Displaying Empire: Company Paintings and the art o

Instructors

Yuthika Sharma

Meeting Info

Deering Library 200: Fri 9:00AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

The term Company Painting has come to stand in for works produced by Indian and British artists associated with the East India Company over the course of the consolidation of the British Empire in India from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Works in this broad category range from depictions of customs and occupations, natural history subjects, and topographical paintings embodying the complex visual processes that shaped Britain's reimagination of India as a colony and extension of its empire.

This museum seminar will focus on developing an exhibit based on a cache of East India Company-associated paintings, prints, and illustrated books in the Charles Deering McCormick Library's Special Collection and University Archives. Students will conuct individual and collaborative research through the direct study of selected works, their art historical contexts, and gain exposure to techniques of painting and print making and conservation science methods through the participation of Library's curators and conservators as well as colleagues at the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts. The seminar will involve a combination of independent research and collaborative work. The course output will include wall texts and labels for a physical exhibit at the Library planned for Spring 2026, and contributions to a companion digital site featuring the artworks.

Class Attributes

Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area