Ruminations

B.N. Goswamy (1933-2023), distinguished art historian, was Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. His work covers a wide range and is regarded, especially in Indian painting, as having influenced much thinking. He has been the recipient of many honours, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship, the Rietberg Award for Outstanding Research in Art History, the JDR III Fellowship, the Mellon Senior Fellowship and, from the President of India, the Padma Shri (1998) and the Padma Bhushan (2008). Apart from the Panjab University, Professor Goswamy has taught, as Visiting Professor, at major universities across the world, including Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Austin and Zurich. He has been responsible for significant exhibitions of Indian art at international venues, including Paris, San Francisco, Zurich, New Delhi, San Diego and New York. He is the author of over 25 books on Indian art and culture, including: Pahari Painting: The Family as the Basis of Style(1968); Painters at the Sikh Court(1975);A Place Apart: Paintings from Kutch(with A.L. Dallapiccola; 1983); The Essence of Indian Art(1986); Wonders of a Golden Age: Painting at the Court of the Great Mughals(with E. Fischer; 1987); Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India(with E. Fischer; 1992); Indian Costumes in the Calico Museum of Textiles(1993); Nainsukh of Guler: A Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State(1997); and Domains of Wonder: Selected Masterworks of Indian Painting(with C. Smith; 2005); and, more recently, The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works(2014 and 2016); Manaku of Guler: Another Great Indian painter from a Small Hill State (2017); Oxford Readings in Indian Art (2018); The Great Mysore Bhagavata (2019); Conversations: India's Leading Art Histo: India's Leading Art Historian Engages with 101 themes, and More (2022) and The Indian Cat: Stories, Paintings, Poetry, and Proverbs (2024).