Tuesday 19 May 2020
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Imperial Subjects Seminar Series: Seminar Three
Online via Zoom
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” (Marcel Proust).
The seminar series Imperial Subjects: (Post)colonial conversations between South Asia and Wales is led by British Art Network bursary awardee Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and South Asian art historian Dr Zehra Jumabhoy. This series of seminars has been adapted for delivery online.
South Asia and Wales have had a long liaison, stretching back to the earliest years of Britain’s socio-political infiltration of the Subcontinent. And, given Wales’ own status within the larger British narrative, the encounters have often been more collaborative (and the two have shared more in common) than the history of Colonialism would lead one to assume. This series of four paired seminars traces some of the historic interactions between South Asia and Wales, while simultaneously forging new ones.
The seminars are paired as Week One and Two and will be delivered on Tuesday and Thursday each week. Delegates may register for one or both weeks.
The two seminars in Week Two have been organised with the help of Welsh literary historian Professor Daniel G. Williams and India-expert Anne Buddle from Edinburgh’s National Scottish Galleries.
Seminar Three: The Robert Clive Collections and Gifts Re-Examined
19 May 2020, 2-4pm
The ways in which historic house collections have been acquired can be troubling and controversial to a 21st century audience. In some cases, these treasures gathered from around the world are the product of conflict, exploitation and plunder. This seminar peeks behind the scenes at one of them: Powis Castle in Wales holds one of the most important collections of South Asian art and artefacts in Europe. The collection was gathered by two generations of the Clive family and contains over 700 objects from 1744-1803. Presentations will explore the origins of the collection, tracing the relationship between colonialism and acquisition. It will include the gift-centred diplomacy of Robert Clive, the collecting habits of Henrietta Clive, and the self-promotion of Edward Clive through the display of Indian arms and armour.
Panel Discussion with the organisers, Katy Freer & Zehra Jumabhoy
Spaces are limited, booking essential.
Register to attend both Week Two seminars
Everyone welcome, particularly members of the subject specialist British Art Network.
This seminar series is funded by and forms part of the programme of the British Art Network. The British Art Network is led and supported by Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, with additional public funding provided by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Image: Title page from Charlotte Clive’s travel journal
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