The educational arm of the Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru has made it easy to access all art related information
The educational arm of the Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru has made it easy to access all art related information
What if you wanted to know everything about Indian art – sculptures, miniatures, clothes, paintings, pottery and much more, all from one place? The illustrious team at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru has done just that with their Encyclopedia of Art – an amalgamation of many years of work. Not only this, they have also spread their expertise in the form of online courses which can be accessed by anyone.
A little more than three years ago, the Bengaluru-based team at MAP began collating the information they had. “The driving idea behind the project was the lack of art history being taught as a real subject as part of the school curriculum in India. It is barely taught at the undergraduate level, with only a small portion being covered in art courses. Nathaniel Gaskell, founder-director of MAP Academy, the educational wing of MAP.
Material from the Art Encyclopedia of MAP Academy, Maharaja Lala Deen Dayal of Ajaygarh. photo credit: special arrangement
“With the lack of art history being taught as a discipline, we began working on online courses to ensure that there was a full curriculum that anyone could log in to and learn from.”
Nathaniel says he started with a small team that eventually grew and now includes 25 full-time employees as well as 12-15 mentors.
Launched on 22 April this year, the encyclopedia was formed out of the need to create an online resource of knowledge. “While there are many scholars and academics around the world involved in various fields of research, much of that knowledge is either inaccessible or written in the language of scholars. Unless one is an expert or has studied art history , they won’t understand that information,” Nathaniel says.
Stamp seal and imprint, material from the Encyclopedia of the Arts of the MAP Academy | photo credit: special arrangement
Associates at MAP Academy do research on a topic or a particular period of history and then editors help them transform that information into more readable text, following a particular style guide and a bibliography for each entry. maintain. Given the nature of this wide-ranging topic, the material will be continually revised and added to the modules.
“One can argue the need for an encyclopedia where there is a lot of information online. However, the point is, where do you look for it? Is it factual? Is it accurate? Is it substantiated in some way? “We thought there is a real need and it can really serve a whole cross section of people as it is not just for students or researchers, but for anyone interested in these subjects,” said MAP. Founder Abhishek Poddar says.
The Buddha offers patronage, material from the MAP Academy’s Art Encyclopedia | photo credit: special arrangement
According to Abhishek, the encyclopedia has over 2,000 entries ranging from paintings, sculpture and artist biographies to historical structures, textiles, photography and much more. “All the information is cross referenced at several points. While a part of the information is obtained from MAP collection; A large part of this is from Indian art in collections around the world – museums, public places, governments, foreign institutions and so on,” he says.
the academy will offer Short courses, introductory courses and specialist subjects. While the short course will be a self-paced, four-hour module with a combination of video footage, text, images and quizzes, the introductory course is of 10 hours in duration. Specialist subject will be an in-depth study of a subject. Some of the subject areas include the history of photography, textiles, modern and contemporary painting, architecture and more.
Material from the Art Encyclopedia of Celestial Dancers, MAP Academy | photo credit: special arrangement
While the courses are still being written and in various stages of production, there is a clothing section available on the site. A short course, ‘Textiles from the Indian Subcontinent’, covers 26 topics over the duration of ten lessons, including a quiz and a certificate of completion. Open to all students, experts or enthusiasts, the course provides a perspective on cultural history and can benefit anyone without prior knowledge of art or textile history.
Krishna’s longing for Radha, material from MAP Academy’s Art Encyclopedia | photo credit: special arrangement
“We realized that for a movement to happen, it should be devoid of any monetary transactions. We just want to create a foundation for art education, which everyone can access,” says Abhishek.
MAP Academy’s Encyclopedia of the Arts and online resources can be found at https://mapacademy.io/