Viewing the Friends of God: Devotional Visuality in South Asian Islam

In the next Indian Art Circle lecture, Dr Murad Khan Mumtaz (Associate Professor, Department of Art, Williams College) will how discuss figurative painting was intimately linked to a unique Indo-Muslim religious expression that had a wide circulation across South Asia.

Islamic art is often misrepresented as an iconophobic tradition. As a result of this assumption, the polyvalence of figural artworks made for Hindustan’s Muslim audiences has remained hidden in plain view. By combining an art historical survey with an analysis of primary Indo-Persian literature, this talk shows how figurative painting was intimately linked to a unique Indo-Muslim religious expression that had a wide circulation across South Asia.

For Zoom registration and further information about the monthly Indian Art Circle lecture series held at SOAS, please contact Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi at indianartcircle.london@gmail.com.

Image: Al-insān al-kāmil, from the Tipu Sultan Album of Saints, 1796 CE. Ink and opaque watercolour on paper. 38.30 x 21.60 cm. British Museum, London (1936.411.0.31, f. 96).