Talks
Isamu Noguchi and the Stone Sculpture of Early India
Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran
Isamu Noguchi wrote in 1949 that the site of Mahabalipuram was his “first and most authentic lesson.” Between then and his death in 1988, Noguchi visited India at least eleven times. Yet there has been little investigation into the nature of this long and deep connection, and the impact it had on the sculptor’s artistic philosophy and practice.
This talk by Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran sheds light on the sculptor’s enduring interest in the art of early India, including Sanchi, Elephanta, and Mahabalipuram, among numerous other ancient sites, and traces the centrality of the “matter of sculpture” in his approach. In looking at and alongside Noguchi, this talk expands our current understanding of the sculptor’s work and calls for material approaches to the study of sculpture from early India.
This programme at MAP is part of A Closer Look, a monthly series of research-focused talks by artists, curators and art historians focusing on visual cultures of South Asia.
Bookings
Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran
Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran is an art historian of South Asia. Her work focuses on early Buddhist art in the Deccan and its transmissions across Southeast
Asia. She has further interests in colonial, contemporary, and curatorial approaches to premodern South Asian stonework. Kalyani completed a PhD at Columbia University; an MPhil at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar; and a B.A. at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, where she won the Department of History Prize. She previously served as a Research Assistant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she worked on five exhibitions. Kalyani is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU Shanghai.
