When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection
May 31, 2008-August 24, 2008
Lecture - When Gold Blossoms: South Asian Experiences of Jewelry
Thursday, June 5, 7pm
Molly Emma Aitkens
The lecture will focus on historical and contemporary experiences of jewelry in South Asia's royal courts, temples, domestic rituals and marriages. A brief introduction will outline the basic styles and motifs of South Indian jewelry. To frame its function in real life, jewelry will be examined in the ideal realm of art and literature, where it entered into the language of love. The conclusion will touch on countercultural responses to jewelry as a symbol of the status quo.
Molly Emma Aitken is an independent scholar and curator specializing in South Asian art. In addition to When Gold Blossoms (Philip-Wilson, 2004), she has given numerous lectures and published several essays on Mughal and Pajput painting of the 16th - 19th centuries. Her book The Intelligence of Tradition: form and meaning in Mewar painting is forthcoming with Yale University Press (Fall, 2009). She is also the author of Meeting the Buddha: on pilgrimage in Buddhist India (Riverhead, 1995).
Educaton programming is generously sponsored by the Kiran Bavikatte Foundation.
Family Fun Day - When Gold Blossoms
Free Family Fun Day at the Figge
Saturday, June 7, 1-4 pm
When Gold Blossoms Family Day
Click here for more information!