Asian art: cultural synergies in the Indian subcontinent

This course looks at Indian art and the Islamic art of the Middle East and examines what makes each region’s style recognisably unique whilst at the same time discovering what impact they had not only on each other but also on Western art. The spread of global trade brought both challenges and opportunities to each country and culture and this course also looks at how the spread of artistic styles was adopted, adapted and assimilated in different places at different times. We will uncover some surprising cross-cultural links that encompass the art of the ancient Greeks to American 20th Century architecture. We will also look at artistic techniques that the other cultures strove to emulate and how imitations became artistic genres in their own right. There will be at least one museum visit as part of the course.