Beyond the Page

An illustrated history of some of the most exciting historic and contemporary South Asian artists and their miniature paintings.

This institutional book tells the dynamic story of contemporary art's engagement with the miniature painting traditions of South Asia and the formal, technical and conceptual innovations of some of the most exciting historic and contemporary artists from South Asia, while also reflecting on questions of culture and power in the entangled histories of Empire and globalisation.

Arranged in thematic groupings, the book explores spaces from the library (kitabkhana), the garden (bagh), the audience hall (diwan) and the private apartments (zenana) to the hunting ground (shikargarh), and is highly illustrated with historic works loaned from the V&A, the British Library, the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Bodleian Library and the Royal Collection Trust.

Several threads run through the book, such as the idea of migration of form enhanced by the portable nature of miniatures, the critique of structural power and the probing of popular culture and gender roles. The book also offers a series of conversations between multiple generations of artists exploring their reinvention of the miniature as practice and concept, and considers how the 'miniature revival' has been led by female artists willing to disrupt the traditionally patriarchal painting workshops.