Course10910449756 lectures
Threads of Visual Exploration: Textiles and Allied Practices - Part I & II
Prof. Rajarshi Sengupta · IIT Kanpur
About
This course puts forward an invested and interdisciplinary way of examining, analysing and appreciating Indian textiles drawing on the ongoing scholarly discussions around craft-art interface, visual and contextual analysis of art practices and sustainability. A selected set of textiles and allied craft and art practices from the early modern to the contemporary period in the Indian subcontinent is addressed in this course. By situating textiles within the larger spectrum of artisanal and art practices in given temporal settings, this course emphasises interconnections between makers, communities, processes, objects and consumers. This approach is beneficial for art practitioners, designers, aspiring art historians, and those preparing for competitive examinations.
Studies in Indian textiles have underscored a range of pertinent topics, including textiles and trade networks (Barnes 1997, 2017; Crill 2006, 2008; Peck 2013), materials and techniques of textile making (Bean 1989; Cecil 2013; Cohen 2016), textiles and identity formation (Edwards 2011, 2016) and innovation and sustainability (Sethi 2016; Venkatesan 2010). Alongside, fresh perspectives into textile makers’ intelligence (Fee 2020; Sengupta 2021) and sensory perception of historical textiles and other artifacts (Houghteling 2022) situated Indian textiles in the intersection of art history, material culture, design history and practice-based studies. Drawing on these ongoing discussions, the course aims to broaden the scope to consider the concepts and tangible presence of textiles and allied practices and their deep impact on societies.
Intended audience: Students and professionals in Fine Arts, Design and Humanities
Prerequisites: None
Lectures
Week 1
- Lecture 1: Introduction to the course and relevance of textiles in art historical studies
- Lecture 2: Identification of Textiles
- Lecture 3: Production and usage of silk
- Lecture 4: Production and usage of silk and wool
- Lecture 5: Visual exploration and art theory
Week 2
- Lecture 6: Introduction to Various Kinds of Weaving
- Lecture 7: Architecture and Textiles
- Lecture 8: Kanchipuram Saris of Tamil Nadu
- Lecture 9: Baluchar Saris of Bengal
- Lecture 10: Figuration and Geometric Abstraction in Textiles
Week 3
- Lecture 11: Mughal Textiles, Miniature Paintings and Cosmopolitanism
- Lecture 12: Dyes, Dressing and Politics
- Lecture 13: Representation of Space in Textiles and Miniatures I
- Lecture 14: Representation of Space in Textiles and Miniatures II
- Lecture 15: Courtly Arts, Textiles and Architecture
Week 4
- Lecture 16: Dyed, Painted, Printed and Resist-dyed Cottons of Coromandel
- Lecture 17: Sites and Tools of Kalamkari Making
- Lecture 18: Kalamkari, Dyeing and Allied Practices
- Lecture 19: Kalamkari and Trade Networks
- Lecture 20: Artisanal Perspectives into Art History
Week 5
- Lecture 21: Characteristic Features of Embroidery
- Lecture 22: Kashmir Shwals, Chamba Rumals and Allied Practices
- Lecture 23: Kantha Quilts of Bengal and Allied Practices
- Lecture 24: Embroidery as Drawing and Writing
- Lecture 25: Applique Cloth and Religious Practices
Week 6
- Lecture 26: Textiles into Colonial Catalogues and Exhibitions
- Lecture 27: Botany, Textiles and Archives
- Lecture 28: Representation of People, Textiles and Activities
- Lecture 29: Indigenous Textile Making and the Rise of Anti-colonial Resistance
- Lecture 30: The Long-lasting Impact of Khadi in Nation-building and Self-sufficiency
Week 7
- Lecture 31: Redefining Traditional Meaning and Associations of Textiles
- Lecture 32: Revival of Textiles, Designers' Interventions I
- Lecture 33: Revival of Textiles, Designers' Interventions II
- Lecture 34: Visvakarma Exhibitions and Artisan-Designer Collaborations
- Lecture 35: Sustainability, Slow Fashion and Their Social Impact
Week 8
- Lecture 36: Textiles as a Medium of Contemporary Art, Textile as Contemporary Art
- Lecture 37: Textiles, Activism, Research and Practice I
- Lecture 38: Textiles, Activism, Research and Practice II
- Lecture 39: Textile-like Scrolls, Textile Metaphors
- Lecture 40: Between Art and Fashion
Week 9
- Lecture 41: Introduction to Yarn and Fabric Dyeing
- Lecture 42: History of Yarn and Fabric Dyeing in India
- Lecture 43: History of Yarn and Fabric Dyeing and Its Relevance in Contemporary Art Practices
- Demonstration
Week 10
- Lecture 44: Variety of Block Printed Textiles and Woodblock Making in the Indian Subcontinent
- Lecture 45: History of Woodblock Making and Printing: Material Evidence
- Lecture 46: Woodblock Making and Block Printing in Southeastern India
- Demonstration
Week 11
- Lecture 47: Histories and Centres of Dye and Mordant Painting in India
- Lecture 48: Dye Painted Textiles: Temple Cloth, Utilitarian Textiles and Artistic Expressions
- Demonstration
Week 12
Syllabus and materials
At NPTEL, as the course publishes them.
Credits and licence
- Institution
- IIT Kanpur
- Department
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Teacher
- Prof. Rajarshi Sengupta
- Level
- Undergraduate
- Language
- English
- Subjects
- Society and politics
- Source
- NPTEL
- Licence
- CC BY-NC-SA, as NPTEL states it. Non-commercial use only. NPTEL's terms
- Attribution
- NPTEL states: "Distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike / CC BY - NC - SA", beside a BY-NC-SA badge.
- Who can watch
- NPTEL gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed