Film-maker James Ivory explains his lifelong obsession with Indian miniature painting – and how it helped unlock the country's secrets
It was the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto who provided the fateful introduction between myself and the art of Indian miniature painting, and thus to India and even my entire life to come. The first film I ever made, in 1956, was a documentary about Venice and the many artists who had painted her. In the course of making this film, I came to admire Canaletto's etchings of the city. Hoping to find one, I went to see a print dealer in San Francisco named Raymond Lewis. I had not been told that he also dealt in Indian miniature paintings.
On the day we met, Lewis had been showing his stock of Indian pictures to a buyer; they were still spread around his gallery when I came in. Years later, when I thought back on that afternoon,...
It was the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto who provided the fateful introduction between myself and the art of Indian miniature painting, and thus to India and even my entire life to come. The first film I ever made, in 1956, was a documentary about Venice and the many artists who had painted her. In the course of making this film, I came to admire Canaletto's etchings of the city. Hoping to find one, I went to see a print dealer in San Francisco named Raymond Lewis. I had not been told that he also dealt in Indian miniature paintings.
On the day we met, Lewis had been showing his stock of Indian pictures to a buyer; they were still spread around his gallery when I came in. Years later, when I thought back on that afternoon,...
- 11/2/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
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