Description
Book SynopsisTraces the emergence of the modern and contemporary art of Muslim South Asia in relation to transnational modernism and in light of the region's intellectual, cultural, and political developments. Iftikhar Dadi explores the art and writings of major artists, men and women, ranging from the late colonial period to the era of independence and beyond.
Trade ReviewThe first sustained critical effort to examine a key minority formation, giving an account . . . of the artistic trajectories of South Asian Muslims."" -
Art in America""Dadi's book will be of value to everyone interested in the 'modern' and 'contemporary' of Asia and the Islamic world."" -
Journal of Central Eurasian Studies""An important contribution to a field of scholarship which is in need of urgent attention. . . . This sensitive, wide-reaching and well-informed account offers significant insights into the nature of modern or avant-garde praxis outside the West."" -
Modern Art Asia""Dadi's contribution is valuable to post-colonial scholarship in South Asia. . . . The work is accessible to both amateurs and experts on art."" -
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies""A challenging and enlightening book that anyone interested in the many varieties of modern Muslim culture should read."" -
Journal of Asian Studies""Long overdue. There exists no historical analysis of modernist art production in the Pakistan of pre and post partition."" -
Art Monthly""Cogently written and lushly illustrated."" -
Criticism""Dadi's analysis is complex, impressively documented, and richly illustrated . . . . [An] enlightening book that anyone interested in the many varieties of modern Muslim culture should read."" -
Journal of Asian Studies""A pick for college-level holdings surveying South Asian culture and art and for Muslim history holdings alike. . . . Makes for an excellent in-depth, college-level analysis."" -
Midwest Book Review""Makes a crucial addition to the growing field of scholarship on global modernism, not only by explicating the work of understudied artists but by simultaneously reevaluating the terms in which modernism can be described and asserting their continuing importance to the practice of contemporary art."" -
CAA Reviews""Dadi's work challenges us to acknowledge the complexities of modernism as a global phenomenon. . . As much as Dadi's text provides us with a compelling history of modernism in Pakistan, the questions that he raises have reverberations far beyond the sites he examines."" -
Art Journal""The canvas of the book is impressive; Dadi looks at the works of seasoned artists such as Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Rasheed Araeen, Shakir Ali, Sadequain and Naiza Khan. . . . A book that demands serious attention."" -
The Hindu
