Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz and the Stella Kramrisch Collections December 12, 2009 – July 25, 2010

Kantha (embroidered quilt), Second half of the 19th century
Bangladesh or India, (Bengal) Faridpur District
Cotton plain weave with cotton embroidery in back, chain, darning, satin, running, dot, and seed stitches
28 3/4 x 28 1/2 inches (73 x 72.4 cm)
Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1968
1968-184-12

Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz and the Stella Kramrisch Collections
December 12, 2009 – July 25, 2010
Stitching kanthas was an art practiced by women across Bengal, a region today comprising the nation of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, India. Lovingly created from the remnants of worn garments, kanthas are embroidered with motifs and tales drawn from a rich local repertoire and used especially in the celebration of births, weddings, and other family occasions.
This exhibition presents some forty superb examples created during the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century, when this vibrant domestic art flourished and encompasses works by women of diverse backgrounds—rural and urban, Hindu and Muslim. While all share a collective Bengali culture, the amazing variety of motifs, patterns, color combinations, and designs of the kanthas in this exhibition demonstrates the imagination and creativity of their makers.

The first exhibition devoted solely to this unique textile tradition ever presented outside of South Asia, Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz and the Stella Kramrisch Collections focuses on two premier collections, one assembled during the 1920s and 1930s by the legendary historian of Indian art, Dr. Stella Kramrisch (the Museum’s Curator of Indian Art from 1954 until her death in 1993), the other recently assembled by Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, leading proponents of American self-taught art. The accompanying catalogue, published by the Museum and Yale University Press, presents the two collections in their entireties for the first time. The majority of the Bonovitz kanthas on view are gifts and promised gifts to the Museum, while the Kramrisch kanthas are part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Sponsors
The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue were made possible by Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, with additional generous support from The Coby Foundation, Ltd., and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Curator
Darielle Mason • The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Location
Joan Spain Gallery, first floor, Perelman Building

From the PMA website

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/63783.html

JAMAL J. ELIAS: Truck Decoration, Religion and Politics in Pakistan by Zoe Papademetriou

On November 19th, 2009, amidst Mona Naqsh’s brightly colored floral canvases, Philadelphia residents and members of SABA gathered to listen to a lecture on Pakistani truck decoration from Jamal J. Elias, the current Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and the Class of 1965 Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Elias, who received his BA from Stanford University, his MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and his PhD from Yale University, is the world’s foremost expert on Pakistani truck art, and has written extensively on the subject. He is also an expert on the study of Islam and Muslim society and has written widely on the Qur’an, Sufism, poetry and modern society.

Elias’ lecture highlighted the social function of the Pakistani truck decoration phenomenon, highlighting the religious and political imagery that is incorporated into the designs and the significance of the artistic decisions in representations of religious iconography and political figures. The truck decorations allow viewers to learn a great deal about the current social attitudes. In Pakistan, trucks are the primary form of transportation for the majority of the population. Only the elite bourgeoisie own cars (approximately 2.5% of the population), leaving the remaining 97.5% to rely upon other forms of transportation. Additionally, the rail network in Pakistan was originally created for troop transport by the British and the country has never invested in expanding the rail system. Therefore, the vast majority of goods in Pakistan are moved by truck and every single privately owned truck is decorated in this highly detailed, extravagant and colorful manner. The high level of decoration requires that these trucks be redone every five years, which is an incredibly expensive measure for Pakistani individuals to support. The continuance of this practice regardless of the costs shows how significant these decorations are.

MONA NAQSH: RECENT PAINTINGS by Zoe Papademetriou

For their final exhibition for 2009, Twelve Gates Gallery is featuring recent paintings by Mona Naqsh, an accomplished Pakistani painter whose father Jamil Naqsh is considered to be the only living Pakistani modern master artist. Mona Naqsh received no official academic training in painting and instead studied underneath her father, developing her personal aesthetic in an environment that gave her free range to explore and understand her visual interests.