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.
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.
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.
Read more: No small feat: Pahari miniature fetches Rs93 lakh at fourth Christie’s auction
Here’s a selection of some of the paintings featured in this book: