PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
East India Square
Salem, Massachusetts. 01970
tel:(800) 745-4054
Email: pem@pem.org
Website:





•Odyssey: A Journey into World Art
October 16, 1999 - Fall 2001

The exhibit, which features more than 300 works, explores artistic expression in ways that transcend traditional notions of culture, place and time through the juxtaposition of artists from America, India, China, Japan and Zaire, among others. Organized into three sections -- people; landscapes; and the natural and spiritual worlds -- the exhibit intermingles a diverse group of objects in hopes of making a new artistic connection for the visitor. In addition, within the galleries, an audio tour, computer kiosks, digital video camera, and internet sites have been organized in ways to heighten the journey through the exhibition.






• Ebony and Ivory: Furniture from British India and Ceylon
February 2 ­ April 29, 2001

Showcasing the museumıs rare holdings of Indian export furniture, the exhibit spans more than 250 years of furniture making in India. Intricate and exceptionally beautiful creations carved from exotic materials such as ivory, lacquer, tortoiseshell, and Asian hardwoods, the furniture reflects the intersection of cultures in colonial Indian life. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the publication of Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. These two institutions hold the most important collections of Anglo-Indian furniture in the world, and this beautifully illustrated catalog represents the first comprehensive look at the subject.






• Kalighat :Popular Painting in 19th Century Calcutta from the Chester and Davida Herwitz Collection
February 16 ­ July 1, 2001

In Calcuttaıs surrounding neighborhood, known as Kalighat, a community of painters produced inexpensive pictures for thousands of pilgrims and visitors. In the mid-nineteenth century these artists became innovators, harbingers of modernism, as they developed a new style of painting using imported paper and European watercolors. They executed their works rapidly in bold sweeping brushstrokes imparting shading to indicate form and volume. Their subject matter embraced two realms. The divinities of the Hindu pantheon, especially the goddess Kali, were their primary subjects. Such images were usually purchased for a shrine at home, to serve as a focus of worship. The artists of Kalighat also portrayed the Calcutta social scene, depicting the fashionable set, sometimes making them subjects of sharp satire, producing many thousands of works for religious purposes and for the entertainment and amusement of their patrons, rich and poor, high and low, native and foreign.











Return to article selection page