Acknowledgments

Mason, Darielle

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Description: Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz...

Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection and the Stella Kramrisch Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Acknowledgments

Author

Darielle Mason

PublisherPhiladelphia Museum of Art

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-22927

Acknowledgments

Philadelphia is as much the theme of this catalogue as is Bengal, the two weaving together through many individuals in a plethora of wonderful ways. Neither catalogue nor exhibition would have begun, let alone come to fruition, without Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, who themselves are intrinsic to the cultural life of this city. Not only did the Bonovitzes form their own collection of kanthas, but they conjured the very idea of a publication and show, and then supported this dual-collection catalogue financially and with their unflagging enthusiasm. In giving their kanthas to the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the occasion of the opening, the Bonovitzes insure that these precious remnants of a fundamentally ephemeral art will join the Kramrisch Collection to create the single largest and most significant collection of historical kanthas outside of South Asia, and will preserve this art for future generations.

Seventy years ago, Stella Kramrisch’s article “Kanthā” catapulted these everyday quilts into the realm of international art historical discourse. After moving to Philadelphia, she set the precedent for displaying South Asia’s vernacular arts in a fine arts museum in her 1968 Unknown India exhibition, and gave permanence to this notion by her gifts and bequest of her collection to the Museum and the city. It is wonderful to note that during the run of Unknown India Anne d’Harnoncourt was a newly arrived curatorial assistant at the Museum. Thirty-five years later, when the Bonovitzes proposed this exhibition and catalogue, she had been the Museum’s Director for over two decades. Her enthusiasm for the project was immediate; would that she could be here to see it come to fruition. She is greatly missed by us all.

The Museum’s administration has been unfailingly supportive. For her reassurance and faith, I owe personal thanks to Interim Head of Curatorial Affairs Alice Beamesderfer, who underpinned this project in all ways with her unfaltering logic, deep knowledge of museum workings, and miraculous problem-solving abilities. Interim Chief Executive Officer Gail Harrity kept us all on track through this difficult year. Timothy Rub, who arrived as Director very late in the history of this project, has nonetheless already brought his considerable intelligence and energy to its service.

It is no surprise that Jill and Sheldon fell in love with kanthas, but it is thanks to Scott Rothstein’s own enthusiasm and support for traditional artists—and he and his wife Marcia Meckler’s fortuitous residency in New Delhi—that they came to be introduced to them in the first place. Our thanks also to Elizabeth Beech at Duane Morris LLP, who was unfailingly helpful no matter how many times we asked to tote the same pieces back into the Museum for more photography.

We are thrilled that the Coby Foundation, Ltd., which focuses on textile traditions the world over, has chosen to provide support for this project.

Numerous individuals and institutions in South Asia, Great Britain, and the United States have opened their collections and shared their expertise with enormous generosity. In Bangladesh, Dr. Akimun Rahman of the Independent University, Bangladesh, and Dr. Shawpan Kumar Biswas and Dr. Rezaul Karim of the Bangladesh National Museum lent their linguistic expertise to the important work of deciphering some of the most difficult stitched inscriptions. The Bangladesh National Museum was made accessible to us thanks to former Director General Professor Mahmudul Haque and Dr. Zinat Mahrukh Banu, Keeper of the Department of Ethnography and Decorative Art. Our gratitude goes to Mrs. Perveen Ahmad for sharing the fruits of her great studies. Shrimati Jahanara Abedin opened to us the phenomenal Abe-din collection of kanthas and shared much about the art of her renowned husband, the late Zainul Abedin. We very much appreciate the expertise provided by Ms. Ruby Ghuznavi, Deputy President of the National Crafts Council of Bangladesh, and the Council’s Ms. Paola Manfredi, and we thank Dr. Enamul Haque, Director of the International Centre for Study of Bengal Art, for hosting his invaluable annual symposia.

In India, we are deeply grateful to Executive Secretary and former Curator of the Gurusaday Museum, Mr. Asis K. Chakrabarti, and its present Curator, Dr. Bijan Kumar Mondal, and their staff, who gave us access for study and photography and shared their knowledge of Bengal’s vernacular arts. For providing photographs, thanks to Dr. Archana Roy of the Birla Museum of Art Culture in Kolkata, Ms. Sunandini Banerji, editor-in-chief of Seagull Books; and Mrs. Supriya Banerjee, Founding Director of Galerie 88. At Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, we are indebted to Professor Swapan Majumdar, Director, Culture and Cultural Relations, and Mr. Nilanjan Banerjee, Special Officer, both of Rabindra Bhavana; and R. Siva Kumar, Professor, Art History, Kala Bhavan. Special thanks to Mr. Chhote Bharany, whose passion for these textiles is outweighed only by his phenomenal eye, willingness to share his wisdom, and gracious hospitality. Mrs. Ruby Palchoudhuri has been a font of information, introducing us to the many talented and enthusiastic kantha embroiderers working with the Crafts Council of West Bengal, of which she is Executive Director. Mrs. Mahamaya Sikdar, founder of the NGO Siban Udyog, herself an accomplished embroiderer, was likewise a great source on the vitality of kantha work.

In London, we appreciate the knowledgeable assistance of Ms. Rosemary Grill, Mr. Nick Barnard, and Ms. Suhasini Sinha at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Mr. T. Richard Blurton and Ms. Sona Datta of the British Museum. We also owe a very special debt to Dr. Susan Bean and Mr. Walter Silver of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Without the other members of the Indian and Himalayan Art Department, past and present, this project would have been impossible. Department Assistant Leslie Vasilyev gets highest kudos for doing the lion’s share of lists, orders, scheduling, moving, and other necessities for this catalogue, filling unending requests from contributors, and keeping the office functioning smoothly, often single-handedly. We especially thank her predecessors: Megan Driscoll, for her expert study photography of both collections; and Nancy Baxter, for her work on Dr. Kramrisch’s biographical information. Former Associate Curator Katherine Paul ably steered the department during my research, and her successor, Assistant Curator Yael Rice, reviewed the manuscript and helped curate Arts of Bengal, the two ancillary exhibitions highlighting related arts from the Museum’s collections. Neil Ghosh created a glossary of motifs that began our reassessment of the visual language of kanthas, and Nachiket Chanchani’s organization of Stella Kramrisch’s papers and review of the biographical essay were invaluable; great thanks to Museum Archivist Susan Anderson for filling our many requests from this now superbly accessible repository. Thanks also to David Buchta of the University of Pennsylvania for his early consultation on transliteration.

In the Costume and Textiles Department, Dilys Blum, The Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Senior Curator, and Sara Reiter, Conservator, under whom contributor Anne Peranteau began her work on this project, provided answers to endless questions and secured the services of the superb Virginia Whelan—to whom we all owe very immense thanks—for stitch identification and to determine the working side of each piece. Special thanks are also due to Stephanie Pereira Feaster and Ingrid Johnson, who helped with the constant moving and viewing that was part of this process. Sara Reiter, with the help of Assistant Conservator Bernice Morris and Mellon Fellow in Costume and Textile Conservation Katherine Sahmel, accomplished the laborious task of preparing and mounting the quilts for exhibition. Thanks as well to the dedicated art handlers under Manager of Installations Martha Masiello, who ferried kanthas to and from so many places for so many years, and finally helped install them in the exhibition spaces.

Collaborating with the Museum’s award-winning Publishing Department, led by the incomparable Sherry Babbitt, The William T. Ranney Director of Publishing, always feels like stepping inside the workings of the finest of Swiss timepieces—effortless, precise, and exquisitely accomplished. Editing of the volume began under Lynne Shaner’s experienced hand. She passed the mantle to the Museum’s own David Updike, to whom I, all the contributors, and this volume, owe a monumental debt. David’s editorial expertise and patience, punctuated by quietly brilliant suggestions, bridged many seemingly uncrossable chasms and then stitched them together with seams that even a kantha-maker would be hard-pressed to detect. Jo Ellen Ackerman’s elegant design allows the quilts to truly shine, and her flexibility in the face of all changes has been appreciated throughout the process. Production Manager Richard Bonk, a pillar of calm competence, performed miracles with color correction and printing.

Museum Photographer Graydon Wood’s careful lighting to balance surface design and texture captures, perhaps for the first time, the full two- and three-dimensional glory of these works of art. His forbearance in the face of seemingly endless additional requests, including a marathon week of shooting details for the catalogue, was nothing short of heroic. Sincere thanks as well to other members of the Photography Department, including Andrea Nunez and Jason Wierzbicki, and the Rights and Reproductions Department, led by Conna Clark.

We are grateful to the many others in the Museum who have contributed to the success of the book and exhibition in a host of ways, including, but certainly not limited to, the Public Relations Department under Norman Keyes; Suzanne F. Wells and Zoe Kahr of the Special Exhibitions Department; Camille Focarino of the Special Events Department; Jack Schlechter and the Installations Design Department; the Editorial and Graphic Design Department under Ruth Abrahams; Maria Shoemaker’s Education Department, including Curator of Public Programs Mary Teeling and the wonderful Museum Guides; and the External Affairs Department under Cheryl McClenney-Brooker. Our great thanks to the Development Department, and especially Peter Dunn, Susan Fisher, Kelly O’Brien, and Jeffrey Snyder.

My deep appreciation to Ted Newbold, head of the Museum’s Indian and Himalayan Department Advisory Committee, whose good advice and kindness mean more than I can say. The members Committee have been source of support for this project in a variety of ways. Helen W. D. English, Anne McPhail, and John Ford shared their memories of Stella Kramrisch. David Nalin kindled many of the ideas that grew into this catalogue by his gift to the Newark Museum that resulted in the 1995 exhibition Cooking for the Gods: The Art of Home Ritual in Bengal. Michael W. Meister, who succeeded Stella Kramrisch as professor of South Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania, played a special role in this catalogue, as myself, Pika Ghosh, and Katherine Hacker all received our Ph.D.’s—and learned to look—under his tutelage; he had drafts of many parts of this book thrust on him and never failed to buttress our confidence and scholarship. It is a great sadness that longtime and beloved Committee member Dr. Sukhamay Lahiri (1933–2009), who was born in what is now Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh, could not live to see this publication and exhibition. My perpetual thanks to him and his wonderful wife, Krishna, for their encouragement, and especially for the memorable day in Kolkata when we thought about kanthas together.

The four contributing authors—Pika Ghosh, Katherine Hacker, Anne Peranteau, and Niaz Zaman—have together transformed this publication from a “mere” exhibition catalogue into a major, groundbreaking contribution to the literature on this art form. Anne Peranteau valiantly dove into the complexities of South Asia, beginning the project in Philadelphia, continuing it in North Carolina, and fielding queries with good humor from New Zealand. Niaz Zaman is legendary in the realm of kantha scholarship, and we are truly honored that she participated in this project. Her professionalism under extremely trying working conditions—as when Dhaka was under curfew and packages vanished in transit—truly impressed us all. We also thank her for her enormous help in transcribing and translating all inscriptions, and for soliciting the expert advice of scholars in Dhaka on the most problematic (for changes and errors, however, I take full responsibility). Katherine Hacker’s exceptional ability to question assumptions by “reading between the lines” is demonstrated by her wonderful historiographic writings, now including the essay in this volume. She peels back the layers of history to reveal the richness of the world in which Kramrisch was writing and collecting, and which continues to color our vision of this material so many years later. Pika Ghosh was initially contracted to write an essay on iconography but said she wanted as well to look at the importance of these textiles today via her own family in Calcutta. When we received her exquisite “Rags to Riches” essay, we urged her not to touch a word and insisted that she write a second piece to provide a review of the iconography. What resulted was the monumental and cutting-edge “Embroidering Bengal,” which together with the first work comprise a book in themselves. Yet however crucial to this work their writings are, Pika’s and Katherine’s contributions to this catalogue go far, far beyond the essays bearing their names. Both have been involved from the beginning in the fundamental research on the two collections. Learning about the visual language of kanthas both from and with Pika has been a glorious experience for me, and her linguistic assistance as well as multiple reviews of the plate entries have been invaluable. Katherine was not only the supreme Bangladesh travel companion, but also flew in at the eleventh hour to spend a stimulating if grueling week reviewing each quilt, questioning each of my unfounded assumptions, and finalizing the entries. While the entries could never have been produced without them, and while I thank them as both friends and collaborators, all errors are very much my own.

Great thanks always to the many wonderful members of the greater Philadelphia South Asian community who have supported the Museum’s initiatives so often and so wholeheartedly. Their collaboration is key, and their appreciation our greatest reward. A final thanks for inspiration to artist and vernacular art scholar Mr. Haku Shah and his wonderful wife, Vilu. Not only did Hakubhai provide invaluable reminiscences of Stella Kramrisch, with whom he collaborated to create Unknown India, but watching he and Viluben relive more than a half century together as they gleefully unfolded layer after layer of a quilt Vilu had made of her old saris truly brought home to me the power of rags. As Hakubhai said, “What I like about all this is that it is more than an object. It is a part of life. In the end, it is the process, and it is the use.”

DARIELLE MASON

The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art

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