Modernism in South Asia
In South Asia, a certain haziness regarding modernism and modernity derives not only from the manner in which they can be elided with each other,…
In South Asia, a certain haziness regarding modernism and modernity derives not only from the manner in which they can be elided with each other,…
The term ‘modernism’ is commonly used to describe some of the literary and cultural production of the early twentieth century in China, Japan, and Korea,…
Wu Xiaobang, known in China as “the father of Chinese new dance,” was the most important pioneer of modern dance in twentieth-century China. Exposed to…
Astad Deboo’s name is synonymous with Contemporary Indian Dance, a style that he pioneered at a time when innovations in Indian dance were not welcomed.…
Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel, known by the mononym Chandralekha, was a pioneering choreographer, dancer, writer, graphic designer, and social activist based in Chennai, India. Best known…
Introduced to China in the 1920s, Western ballet evolved into a significant performance genre in modern and contemporary China. Its popularity grew in the twentieth…
A legendary dancer often credited as the father of Indian modern dance, Uday Shankar was a visual artist and an astute choreographer with a keen…
The Japanese avant-garde dance, butoh, developed out of experiments and collaborations directed by Hijikata Tatsumi (1928–1986) and often involved Ohno Kazuo (1906–2010) in Tokyo beginning…
Lawrence Durrell was born in Jalandhar, India under British colonial rule. Both his parents were born in India and never saw England before 1923 when…
Modernism in Indian literature, like Indian modernity, resists tidy definitions. Just as experiences of modernity outside the Western world have prompted accounts of ‘alternative,’ ‘colonial,’…
Contemporary South Asian Dance is performed in the geographical territories of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and in the diaspora of South Asians in the…
Born in the Baniya community of Mumbai and originally from an artisan caste, Bhupen Khakhar is often considered India’s first “pop artist.” Khakhar revealed his…
Tarō Okamoto [岡本太郎] (1911–1996) was one of Japan’s most visible artists during the post-World War II period. Born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, his father was a…
Kubo Sakae was a leading shingeki playwright prior to World War II, and a shingeki socialist hero afterward. His greatest dramatic work is the epic…
The Santiniketan School refers to a small group of artists who were active in Santiniketan, a small university town north of Calcutta, from 1921 to…
Agus Djaya was an Indonesian artist who rejected academic formalism in favor of a more expressive mode of painting, achieved by the flattening of space…
Vietnam was a French colony when the artistic and cultural influence of Paris was at its peak. Despite this, few Vietnamese ventured to France in…
Jiro Yoshihara was the founder—with Shozo Shimamoto and a younger generation of students—of the Gutai Art Association (1954–72). He organized the association’s events, such as…
Asai Chû was a leading Yôga (Western-style painting) artist during the Meiji period. Asai began learning Kachô-ga (花鳥画, Japanese bird and flower paintings) from the…
Dong Xiwen [董希文] was a modern Chinese painter, whose art was widely appreciated in Communist China. Dong attended the National Academy of Arts in Hangzhou,…
M.F. Husain has often been called India’s Pablo Picasso on account of his stature as the most representative artist of modern India. After the gain…
Jaafar Latiff, born in Singapore, established his reputation as an abstract artist in the 1960s. He was self-taught; however, his talent saw him easily find…
The popular Takarazuka Revue Company, based in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, is the oldest established musical theater company in Japan. The performers are unmarried women; if…
Liu Haisu was a painter, art educator, exhibition organizer, and key figure in introducing Western art to China in the 20th century. As the founder…
Park Soo-Keun is one of the most popular Korean painters of modern times. A self-taught artist, he graduated with only an elementary school education and…