On a warm evening, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Bengaluru painted a different sight. An unusual number of visitors had descended on the premier art space in the city rupturing its usual silence. The compere of the evening, wearing a surprised expression on his face, quipped on the stage, it is either Navina or The International Music and Arts Society. The latter had brought Navina Najat Haidar, the curator who is credited with the turn around of the Islamic art galleries at the the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York to speak about “Sultans of Deccan India, "Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, Perspectives from the Metropolitan Museum's 2015 Exhibition. Laced with stories and anecdotes, Navina’s lecture evoked a range of emotions.
Edited excerpts from an interview.
In today's world when Islam remains a much-misunderstood religion, what role can a museum like the Met can play?
Islam, taken in its broadest cultural sense over a period of 14 centuries, was an inspiration for some of the world’s greatest works of art and architecture. In the context of a museum, especially one with an encyclopedic collection like the Met’s, visitors can observe works of art directly and develop their understanding and appreciation, and also challenge their prejudices.
When revamping the galleries in 2010, did you feel the need to reimagine the context for a few objects? For instance, Aurangzeb is believed to have done calligraphic works in Brij bhasha. He patronised Sanskrit and Hindi.
Most museums try to strike the balance between presenting works of art as neutrally possible while contextualizing them in an interesting and accurate way. Myth-making misuses, misinterprets or even invents evidence to the contrary. As art historians and curators, we strive to be objective and avoid the mistake of subjugating art to a prescribed narrative, rather build stories that spring from the art.
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Aurangzeb’s complex role in history has been misrepresented in many ways. However, his patronage and legacy as prince and emperor are being re-examined in new scholarship. From the point of view of the artistic record, some of the most impressive paintings of the Mughal school come from the Aurangzeb period. They show a new love of the land and landscape and faithfulness to natural observation. For example, a famous painting in the Chester Beatty library depicts the emperor hunting nilgai in a sensitively delineated scrubland. Another magnificent composition by the artist Bhavanidas in the Metropolitan Museum shows him in the Deccan hills with a party of nobles, hunters, animals and a distant army. In the Met’s Deccan exhibition we included a large, striking portrait on cloth of a young Aurangzeb, when he was subehdar of the Deccan.
When talking about Islamic art, do you agree architecture takes precedence over literature and art, though we have, of late, witnessed a revival of the miniature art form?
This is a question that involves several academic fields. In general, architecture is usually taught separately from art. However, one interesting thing about Islamic art in general is the unity of design and form that extends across media, inter-relating small-scale objects or paintings to large-scale buildings. From the point of view of Islam itself, the art of calligraphy probably occupies highest status, deriving its prestige from the practice of copying the text of the Quran in many different beautiful styles.
A new generation of Pakistani artists in particular have led the way forward in fresh interpretations of the miniature art form, which has descended from the Islamic book arts.
Are we witnessing a loss of pietra dura technique and is it well represented at the Met?
Pietra dura was a Florentine technique of stone inlay introduced to Mughal architecture in the first half of the 17th century. At the Taj, it reached a great peak of glory and is also found in other monuments. Over the years, or perhaps centuries, the semi-precious stones have been gouged out for their value, and have been replaced in various conservation efforts. However the replacements are generally of very much lower quality. Museum collections have fragments of pietra dura inlaid panels, but luckily some of the great ones are still in place in Mughal tombs.
Islamic art can serve as an embodiment of truly secular influences. Do you agree and can you quote examples from the collection?
Yes, I do. For example, there are many illustrations to Hindu mythologies made for the Emperor Akbar, such as the famous image of Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan. Also, European influences were well integrated into Mughal painting, inspired partly by the polyglot Bible brought to Akbar’s court by Jesuits. Images of Christ and the Virgin Mary and other sacred and secular figures abound in Mughal art. But this phenomenon is not unique to India. You see many cultural and artistic exchanges in Islamic Spain between Jews, Christians and Muslims. For example, the use of micrography, or minuscule calligraphy appearing in Hebrew bibles and Arabic Qurans in the Nasrid period.
