LOVING KRISHNA: FOUR CENTURIES OF INDIAN PAINTING
/LOVING KRISHNA: FOUR CENTURIES OF INDIAN PAINTING
November 22, 2024–February 15, 2025 at Fenwick Gallery
Curated by students in Art History 495/595, “Curating an Exhibition,” Fall 2024
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1:30–4:00PM
“Krishna approaches Radha,” folio from a Rasikapriya, approx. 1690. Watercolor and gold on paper, 7.5”x5.5”. From Bikaner, Rajasthan state, India. Credit: Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, S2018.1.45.
Krishna is a Hindu god who is easily recognized throughout the exhibit by his mischievous actions and blue complexion. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, Indian painters beautifully illustrated Krishna's role as both a playful figure and a compassionate, loving deity. He was raised in rural India and spent most of his youth alongside the cow herdesses, or gopis. Many depictions of Krishna focus on his intimate relationship with Radha, who among the many gopis is regarded as his true and most devoted companion. Their love story is written in many texts and poems, including the Gita Govinda from which the images in this section are drawn.
The paintings included in this exhibition depict the diverse dimensions of loving Krishna through various types of relationships, including as a romantic partner, friend, child, and divine protector. These personal relationships with the deity are a key element of bhakti devotionalism through which devotees express a deep, personal connection to Krishna that is reciprocated by him. While the romance between Radha and Krishna illustrates one type of connection, collectively these paintings are designed to create a full picture of what it means to love and be loved by Krishna.
About the Exhibition
This exhibition was curated by students in Dr. Robert DeCaroli’s Fall 2024 course, “Curating an Exhibition”, working directly with paintings from the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. These fourteen images are to-scale photographic reproductions of paintings dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.
The students would like to thank Dr. Debra Diamond, South and Southeast Asian Art Curator and her colleagues at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. They also thank Stephanie Grimm (Art and Art History Librarian) and the staff of the Fenwick Library.