Modernism in India: A Short History of a Blush

• Autores: Ajay Sinha
• Localización: Art bulletin, ISSN 0004-3079, Vol. 90, Nº 4, 2008, págs. 561-567
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A response to Partha Mitter's article “Decentering Modernism: Art History and Avent-Garde from the Periphery,” also published in this issue. Modernism in India is fascinated by the kind of embarrassment that Indians feel when they encounter objectifying colonial representations of themselves. The resulting “blush” permeates the history of modern India and shapes not only the consciousness of British-educated Indians but also contemporary interpretations of that consciousness. The centrality of the “blush” in Indian experience tends to turn modernist practitioners into ethnographers, who become strangely fascinated with their own mirror images. The most provocative aspect of Mitter's article is his bold suggestion that a mimetic identification with the ethnographic subject is a viable tactic for visualizing and interpreting historical encounters in India.