Introducing Asian Modernisms

This course introduces students to the development of modernism in Indian, Indonesian and Japanese art. Whereas the dominant discourse of art history from a Euro-American perspective tends to consign non-western modernist art to a marginal status and treats it as derivative, this course argues that modernism in particular Asian countries follows trajectories that are regionally specific and culturally diverse, responding to political, technological and social transformations. At the same time, the course addresses the complex interrelations between these non-western modernisms and the development of Euro-American modernism. Concentrating on a century of artistic practices from the later nineteenth century onwards, the course will offer students an introduction to visual practices, historical approaches and theoretical formulations relating to this material. Colonial and postcolonial histories of art, as well as relations between art practice and nationhood will form the core of the inquiry.