Register for this free event here.
Please contact us via email at [email protected] if you have any accessibility needs that we can support.
About the program
This program will start with a guided close look at two preparatory drawings from the Williams College Museum of Art’s collection of Indian art—led by Elizabeth Gallerani, Curator of Mellon Academic Programs, and Amber Orosco, Art History Graduate Student—followed by a demonstration of traditional drawing techniques and process.
The program will consider the history and legacy of the Tasvir Khana, a workshop model established in the Mughal court in the late 16th century, which continues to be relevant in India and Pakistan to this day.
Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and practice their drawing skills. Bring a pencil and paper to follow along and try your hand at some of these methods.
This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition and Williams College studio art course Tasvir Khana: Practicing Indian Drawing and Painting.
About the participants
Murad Khan Mumtaz is Assistant Professor of Art at Williams College and an artist trained in the traditional art of North Indian painting, specifically, the miniature tradition. Murad examines historical intersections of art, literature and religious expression in South Asia. His primary research focuses on devotional portraiture with a special interest in representations of Muslim saints in early modern India. His work has been aided by fellowships from the American Institute of Indian Studies, the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, the CLIR-Mellon Program, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before joining Williams College, Murad was a History of Art Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He received his BFA from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, his MFA in visual art from Columbia University, and his PhD in art history from the University of Virginia.
Elizabeth Gallerani is the Curator of Mellon Academic Programs at the Williams College Museum of Art, where she has worked since January 2007. She manages the Rose Study Gallery, curates Object Lab and the Labeltalk exhibition series, co-teaches class sessions in museum spaces, manages programs to foster academic engagement, oversees student internships during the academic year, and develops collaborations with faculty across the Williams campus. She holds a leadership position in Teach Team, which develops and implements professional development for Williams faculty. Elizabeth holds an M.A. in Art History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a B.A. in Art History from Cornell University.
Amber Orosco is a first-year MA candidate in the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art. Amber graduated from Bowdoin College in 2019 with degrees in Art History and Studio Art and pursued studies in chemistry focusing on the metallic compositions of early modern portrait medals. While at Williams her research endeavors include early modern material history and technical art history. Amber is currently the Academic Engagement Intern at the Williams College Museum of Art and the Teaching Assistant for Professor Murad Khan Mumtaz’s studio art course on Indian painting and drawing.
Watch the program video:
Program terms of interest:
Musavvari: Painting (Urdu, from Persian)
ChitraKala: Painting – part of the arts of eternal knowledge (from Hindi)
Yellow Ochre: Pigment made of high iron clay
Cochineal: Pigment made of cochineal insects
Vasli: Handmade paper of jute, hemp; 3 sheets of paper glued together and burnished with a cowrie shell.
Safaida: Opaque white used to smooth vasli: traditionally lead carbonate; modern zinc oxide or eucalptyus derivate.
Pardakht: Stippling technique that fills in by dotting with pencil or brush
Charba: Facsimile, likeness (Urdu), tracing
Khaka: Template (Hindi), tracing