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Hyena

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Bookmark: https://collection.sdmart.org/objects-1/info/5257

Hyena

Creation date: after 1794

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.1365

State/Province: West Bengal

Dimensions: 10 15/16 in. x 18 7/32 in. (27.8 cm x 46.3 cm)

Provenance

Mathias Komor, New York, New York ( - October 13, 1978)

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (October 13, 1978 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

India had its own long tradition of creating realistic natural history paintings with close attention to texture and minute detail and when Indian artists were asked by their new British patrons to paint flora and fauna studies, they readily understood how to creat the precise renditions of the subjects. There was however no tradition in Indian art for rendering shadow, so artists at times would incorporate thier interpretations of shadows that they derived from European sources.

In the Company Manner (2009), SDMA Gallery Rotation
The Indian artist attempts to add to the realistic demeanor of the hyena by placing shadow marks behind the animal's paws - a perfunctory nod to European conventions. While India had its own long tradition of creating natural history paintings with close attention to texture and minute detail, there was no tradition for rendering shadow. Thus, when Indian artists were asked by their British patrons to pain flora and fauna studies, they readily understood how to create the precise renditions of the subject, but they evidently took little interest in fully adapting the practice of providing a naturalistic shadow.

Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec
Hyena
Calcutta, India, after 1794
Opaque watercolor on paper. 27.8 x 46.3 cm
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.1365

While close attention to texture and minute detail were firmly established aspects of the Indian artists’ repertoire at this time, rendering shadow was not. Often artists would incorporate interpretations of shadows based on their exposure to European sources, but whether by virtue of little cultural precedent or simply personal disinterest, their efforts in this aspect tend to lack the quality of other elements of the paintings. This hyena, for example, seems to cast shadows only from the lower half of its legs, suggesting a light source pointed directly at its head. This is in contradiction to the even light across its body that seems to come from behind the viewer, showing a lingering misunderstanding of or lack of interest in western conventions of point of view.

While the expression on the hyena’s face and the red veins visible in its semi-translucent ears are striking, the details of this painting lack the subtlety and nuances of painting by artists of the caliber of Shaikh Zayn al-Din, for instance, and mark it as perhaps made by a freelance artist to sell at a market or port to tourists.

Last Updated: 9/5/2017

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

In the Company Manner: Indian-British Painting ca. 1770-1890 (Binney Rotation) , 3/28/2009 - 9/27/2009

Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art San Diego Museum of Art , 2/28/2012 - 5/27/2012

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Dr. Sonya Quintanilla and Patrick Coleman. Visiones de la India Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012
Page Number: 224, 295, Figure Number: cat. 100, p. 225

Dr. Sonya Quintanilla and Patrick Coleman. Visiones de la India (Mexico) Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. Mexico , 2013
Page Number: 157, Figure Number: cat. 98, p. 164

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