Dance in Indian Painting

DANCE IN INDIAN PAINTING

by Kapila Vatsyaan

''Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts'' by Kapila Vatsyayan was the first definitive work on the integral interrelationship of the Indian Arts. A companion volume with particular reference to painting was promised. The present study reconstructs the history of movement through the evidenc'e of the pictorial arts: it encompasses a vast canvas in space and time. from Himachal to Kerala, Gujarat to Assam, from the prehistoric caves to the 19th century. It focuses attention on the interdependence of the two arts, thus providing a new basis for investigating both the evolution of Indian dance styles as also the formal aspects of Indian painting. The study is based on textual, literary and chronicle evidence and is supported by coloured and black and white illustrations of many new discoveries. The study is characteristic of the author's internationally acknowledged ability to meaningfully relate theory and practice, regional variations, disciplines and artistic manifestations.

About The Author:-

Kapila Vatsyayan, artist, school, administrator, recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship, Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and presently its Vice-Chairman, is today acclaimed as an outstanding authority on Indian Dance who has achieved the baffling task of presenting a comprehensive analytical and objective study of the art in relation to history literature, sculpture, painting and music.

Her greatest advantage is the ability to live her subject from the inside on account of her long and sustained training in both theory and practice. Student of the late Dr. Vasudev Saran Agrawala, disciple of leading artists such as Achchan Maharaj, Amobi Singh and Juana de Laban, she is singularly equipped for presenting an integrated view of the artistic traditions.

At home in many languages and literatures both Western and Indian, she has been responsible for evolving conceptual models and inter-disciplinary methodologies for a systematic study of the interdence of Indian artistic traditions. Author of eight books and over one hundred research papers, she has been the leader of many Indian delegations to conferences in India and abroad. She served as the Joint Secretary of the XXVI International Congress of Orientalists. She has taught at the University of Delhi and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Philadelphia.