In the Company Manner (2009), SDMA Gallery Rotation
In order to satisfy the British appetite for acquiring paintings depicting Indian customs and occupations, Indian artists produced standardized sets, not for a particular patron, but aimed at the British merchant class clientele. Company personnel who bought the paintings brought them back to England, and they lent a sense of glamour and exoticism to the reports of their experiences. These exceptionally finely wrought scenes have been set in generic European style watercolor landscapes, and their mode of presentation allows the British viewer to assume the position of detached observer, for no figure confronts the viewer directly, and they lack any sense of emotion or pathos.


Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec
Acrobat on a tightrope, drummer below
India, ca. 1820
Opaque watercolor on paper. 24.2 x 19.4 cm
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.1369

This finely-wrought example of an indigenous scene depicts an astounding acrobatic feat of rope dancing by a female performer. As is characteristic of paintings for British Company patrons, the scene is depicted such that the viewer is a positioned as a detached observer: no figure confronts the viewer directly, allowing the freedom to gaze with curiosity and without embarrassment.

While painted by an Indian artist attempting to satisfy an occidental taste, this image clearly fills the needs of an audience hungry for «oriental» charm, for example, as seen in the drummer’s native and colorful dress or the depiction of this performer’s rare acrobatic talent. But this process of influence and exaggeration into stereotype extended beyond the realm of art: acrobats actually did strap curved horns onto their feet and stacked pots on their heads to increase the difficulty and oddity of their performances, in effect orientalizing themselves to play to British desires. In this sense, the painting captures just one example of how the influence of western fantasies about India had an impact both on its art and on its cultural practices.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017