Art News

Ashmolean opens the year with Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Edward Hodgkin

OXFORD.- On 2 February 2012 the Ashmolean will open an exhibition of Indian paintings from the outstanding private collection of the artist Howard Hodgkin. Hodgkin has been a passionate collector of Indian paintings since his school days and his collection has long been considered one of the finest of its kind in the world. At times he has devoted almost as much effort to developing his collection as to his own work as a painter. It will go on show at the Ashmolean for the first time in its entirety. The collection comprises most of the main types of Indian court painting that flourished during the Mughal period (c. 1550–1850), including the refined naturalistic works of the imperial Mughal court; the poetic and subtly coloured paintings of the Deccani Sultanates; and the boldly drawn and vibrantly coloured xxstyles of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills. Above all, this is a personal collection, forme