Description
Kantha: The Emboidered Quilts of Bengal
from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection and the Stele Kramrisch Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Edited by Darielle Mason
With essays by Pika Ghosh, Katherine Hacker, Darielle Mason, Anne Peranteau, and Niaz Zaman
This first book-length study on kanthas published outside of South Asia focuses on two premier collections of these Bengali quilts, one assembled by the legendary historian of Indian art Dr. Stella Kramrisch, the other by Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, leading proponents of American self-taught art. Created from worn-out garments imaginatively embroidered by women with motifs and tales drawn from a rich regional repertoire, kanthas traditionally were stitched as gifts for births, weddings, and other family occasions.
Innovative essays by leading scholars explore the domestic, ritual, historical, and technical contexts of the fascinating quilts in these collections—most made between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth century in what is today Bangladesh and West Bengal, India—and trace their reinterpretation as emblems of national identity and works of art.
Kantha: The Emboidered Quilts of Bengal, Darielle Mason, Yale University Press, 2010
Hardcover. Minor shelf wear. Previous owners name inscribe don first page. Very good condition.
