Emilia Terracciano's 'Art and Emergency' Reinterprets Indian Modernism Through Crisis
In her 2018 publication 'Art and Emergency: Modernism in Twentieth-Century India,' Emilia Terracciano explores the artistic responses of Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990), Sunil Janah (1918-2012), and Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) to major historical events such as the 1905 Partition of Bengal, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919, the Bengal famine of 1943, the 1947 Partition, and the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi from 1975 to 1977. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's theories, she posits that art serves as a form of resistance in times of political failure. Engaging with thinkers like Dipesh Chakrabarty and Geeta Kapur, this 281-page work, published by I.B. Tauris in London, challenges traditional narratives and significantly contributes to art historical discourse.
Key facts
- Emilia Terracciano published 'Art and Emergency: Modernism in Twentieth-Century India' in 2018
- The book analyzes works by Nasreen Mohamedi, Sunil Janah, and Gaganendranath Tagore
- It examines artistic responses to historical crises including the Bengal Famine of 1943 and Indira Gandhi's Emergency (1975-77)
- Theoretical framework draws from Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, and postcolonial thinkers
- Sunil Janah's famine photographs documented approximately three million deaths
- Nasreen Mohamedi's abstraction developed during the 1975-77 Emergency period
- Gaganendranath Tagore's work responded to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre
- The book engages with and critiques Geeta Kapur's scholarship on Indian modernism
Entities
Artists
- Emilia Terracciano
- Nasreen Mohamedi
- Sunil Janah
- Gaganendranath Tagore
- Paul Klee
- Walter Benjamin
- Giorgio Agamben
- Dipesh Chakrabarty
- Geeta Kapur
- Frantz Fanon
- Homi Bhabha
- Nasser Hussain
- Roland Barthes
- Albert Camus
- Ariella Azoulay
- Zahid Chaudhury
- Cecil Beaton
- Chittroprasad Bhattacharya
- Zainul Abedin
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Rabindranath Tagore
- Henri Bergson
- Partha Mitter
- Hannah Arendt
- Harry Zoh
- Indira Gandhi
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Lord Curzon
Institutions
- I.B. Tauris
- Communist Party
- Schocken Books
- Santiniketan
Locations
- India
- Pakistan
- London
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Bengal
- Santiniketan