Picture gallery: Pahari Paintings by BN Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer

A selection of exquisite paintings from the hill states of India

Pahari Paintings, which brings together outstanding works by Indian masters who worked in the Pahari or sub-Himalayan region between 1680 and 1850, is, quite simply, exquisite. The catalogue is the result of a collaboration between Prof BN Goswamy and Dr Eberhard Fisher.

Shiva, the Great God, Leads his Family Homewards (Courtesy Pahari Paintings by BN Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer)

The scholars had earlier collaborated on Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India (1980) and, in 2010, on the two-volume Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1900 with Dr Milo Beach. The latter volume served as a guide to exhibitions at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The paintings in this book are from the Horst Metzger collection. Metzger, a German, was a dedicated collector, who was passionate about Indian art in general and about Pahari paintings in particular. He left his collection of close to 250 paintings, as a bequest to the Museum Rietberg in Zurich.

Pahari Paintings features 60 chosen works from Horst Metzger’s collection and showcases, both, the delicate aesthetics of Pahari painting and the collector’s labour of love in putting together this priceless collection.

Here’s a selection of some of the paintings featured in this book: 

The Monkey Army Takes on Some Demons (Pahari Painting by BN Goswamy and Ebrhard Fischer)

Ardhanarishvara: the Lord Whose Other Half is Woman (Pahari Painting by BN Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer)

As Gentle Breezes Blow: Krishna Dances and Makes Love on the Banks of the Yamuna River (Pahari Painting by BN Goswamy and Ebehard Fischer)

Folio from an Ashta Nayika or Nayika Bheda series (Pahari Painting by BN Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer)

The Goddess Triumphant (Pahari Painting by BN Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer)