Art History in the Age of COVID-19: Students Launch Online Exhibit of South Asian Paintings

By Vanessa Meikle Schulman 

Students enrolling in Professor Robert DeCaroli’s Curating an Exhibit class for spring 2020 knew they were signing up for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: the chance to work in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to curate an exhibit of Indian ragamala paintings. They would work closely with the curator of South and Southeast Asian art, Debra Diamond, and get a behind-the-scenes look at museum operations. Their efforts would culminate in an exhibit in Buchanan Hall, featuring reproductions of the beautiful, jewel-like paintings known as ragamala. These handheld paintings, dating from the 15th through 18th centuries, were part of an elite visual culture in India’s princely states and were meant to be consumed in courtly gatherings accompanied by food, drink, and the musical compositions called ragas. Selecting from a large group of ragamala paintings, students developed the theme “Emotion and Devotion.” 

Midway through the semester, shutdowns in response to the global pandemic cut short student visits to the Freer|Sackler. Though the in-person portion of the show was canceled, the online component of the project moved forward. Despite decreased access to research materials, students completed a web-based exhibit featuring a contextual introduction and 18 paintings with in-depth captions. Finding the silver lining in these unforeseen circumstances, Elizabeth Denholm, MA ’20, wrote, “This online exhibition is the first time these paintings have been publicly displayed together, and the online format gives viewers a more intimate look at the paintings than is possible in the traditional museum environment.” The Freer|Sackler website features Denholm’s writing about the project and a link to the virtual exhibit. “I am very proud of the way the students prevailed despite the challenges,” says DeCaroli. 

Emotion and Devotion: Ragamala Paintings of India’s Princely Courts can be viewed online at ragamalaexhibit.com.