Small Wonders



A little art: Vanmana, the Dwarf Avatar of Vishnu, 18th-century Indian watercolor.

Intimate Worlds: Masterpieces of Indian Painting from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, through April 29, 215-763-8100

For a few more weeks, Indian court painting is featured in a wonderful exhibition at the PMA. Meticulously drawn and painted on paper with colorful opaque watercolors (often augmented by gold, silver or even beetle wings), the mythic and the everyday are represented side by side in luminous, beautifully detailed scenes. The 90 paintings and drawings on view, dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries, were made by artists in the workshops of the Mughals, the Rajput rulers of northern India and the sultans of the south-central Deccan region. They were passionately collected over the past 30 years by Philadelphia collector Alvin O. Bellak, who has generously promised his entire collection as a gift to the museum.



	The Poet Bihari Offers Homage to Radha and Krishna

The exhibition’s title, derived from a 12th-century Hindu devotional love poem, enlightens viewers on the intimate relationship they must form with these small paintings, which were intended to be examined closely and to evoke a world of power and myth for each viewer individually. Rustam Kills a Demon, c. 1575, shows the brave and determined warrior-hero of the Persian epic Shahnama gently grasping the demon’s ankles while with his own foot he lands a crushing blow on the back of the monster’s head. The gray and white fur on the demon, with spots, stripes and wisps of longer hair, is finely — even affectionately — rendered, creating a degree of sympathy for the creature’s plight. In Radha, Enter Madhava’s [Krishna’s] Intimate World, c. 1775-80, two women dressed in brightly colored saris cautiously approach the amorous blue-skinned Krishna. The figures, painted as if in broad daylight, glow like jewels in a night landscape with a river, hills and a grove of trees. In one of the largest paintings in the exhibition, Maharana Jagat Singh II of Mewar Holds a Feast for the Yogis, c. 1743, over 130 pale nude yogis are shown feasting with the king and his other guests in his spacious white refectory. The painting captures the grand pageantry of Indian court life as well as the quirky individuality of the participants — through, for instance, the astonishing variety of the yogis’ physiques and imaginative monochromatic hairdos.

All of the paintings, though small in scale, have an unrelenting intensity and charm — multiplied by the depth and scale of the collection. Be prepared to be enchanted by this marvelous show, but take note: the magnifying glasses (located near the entrance to the exhibition) are indispensable!

—Susan Hagen