Colonial and National Formations of the National College of Arts, Lahore, circa 1870s to 1960s

Nadeem Omar Tarar was a Professor of Communication and Cultural Studies at the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore. Currently, he is affiliated with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, on the print culture of South Asia.

• Introduction; Chapter One; CRAFTING ARTISANS AS PRIMITIVE ARTISTS: ART AND CRAFT DISCOURSES IN COLONIAL PUNJAB; I. Primitivisation of Indian Art and Artist; II. ‘Primitive Art in Civilized Places’: the Formation of the Pedagogic Triad of Trade   Exhibitions, Museums and Art Schools in Colonial Punjab; III. Lahore Museum: A Storehouse of Natural History and Primitive Art; IV. “Aboriginal” Artisans and the Colonial Ethnography of Occupational Castes; Chapter Two; KIPLING'S SCHOOL: BRITISH ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN PUNJAB; I. Technical Education in Colonial Punjab and the Making of the Mayo School of Art; II. The Lahore Model: the Mayo School under Lockwood Kipling; III. The Suitable Boys: the Mayo School of Art and Ibbetson’s Anthropology; IV. From “Primitive” Artisans to “Modern” Craftsmen-Artists; Chapter Three; POLITICS OF ART AND CRAFT: RETHINKING THE MAYO SCHOOL; I. Drawing Masters as Artists: The Emergence of Fine Arts in Punjab; II. Posters from the Early Twentieth Century Colonial Punjab: Chromolithography and Mayo School of Art; Chapter Four; AESTHETICS MODERNISM IN THE POST-COLONY: THE MAKING OF A NATIONAL COLLEGE OF ART; I. From Craft to Fine Arts: The Nationalist Discourse on Traditional Arts; II. The Development of Industrial and Technical Education in Pakistan as a  Panacea for Modernization; III. From Mayo School of Art to National College of Arts: The Forward Looking Years; IV. Post-Bauhaus at NCA: An Aborted Agenda; Chapter Five; FRAMINGS OF A NATIONAL TRADITION: DISCOURSES ON MODERN MASTERS AND THE INVENTION OF MINIATURE PAINTING IN PAKISTAN; I. Neo-Orientalist Discourse of Revivalisms: Tagore and Chughtai; II. Haji Sharif: Encounter with Tradition and Modernity; III. Discourse on Old Masters and the Myth of Tradition in Miniature Painting; IV. Miniature Painting as Kitsch: Shazia Sikander’s Innovation; V. 'The Original as Copy': Creative Process in Indian Painting; Conclusions; Appendix; Bibliography

“An excellent work: the first comprehensive study of any of the major and influential schools of art and design (Lahore, Bombay, Kolkata) in South Asia from their colonial-era roots to the present day. This book undertakes a much-needed shift in focus towards the manner in which institutional dynamics and state practices have structured aesthetic thought and art practice alike. The reader will particularly appreciate how artistic concerns are linked to broader governmental concerns of socialization and economic behavior.” — Arindam Dutta, author of The Bureaucracy of Beauty: Design in the Age of its Global Reproducibility (2007).