Pal, Pratapaditya 1935–

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PAL, Pratapaditya 1935–

PERSONAL: Born 1935, in Bengal, India (now Bangladesh); immigrated to the United States, 1967; son of Gopesh Chandra and Bidyut Kana (Dam) Pal; married Chitralekha Bose, April 20, 1968; children: Shalmali, Lopamudra. Education: St. Stephen's College (Delhi, India), B.A., 1956; University of Calcutta, M.A., 1958, D.Phil. (architecture of Nepal), 1962; Cambridge University, Ph.D. (sculpture and painting of Nepal), 1965. Religion: Hindu.

ADDRESSES: Home—411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91105-1825. Office—c/o Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 10582 Chevoit Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90064.

CAREER: Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, lecturer in Indian studies, 1963–64; American Academy of Benares, Benares, India, research associate, 1966–67; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, keeper of Indian collections, 1967–69; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, senior curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, 1970–95, acting director, 1979, retired, 1995. Norton Simon Museum, research fellow and consulting curator, beginning 1996; Art Institute of Chicago, visiting curator of Indian and Himalayan art, beginning 1996. University of Southern California, adjunct professor, 1971–89; Oxford University, William Cohn Lecturer, 1983; Pierpont Morgan Library, Catherine Mead Memorial Lecturer, 1986; Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, India, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Memorial Lecturer, 1987; University of Texas—Austin, D. J. Sibley Lecturer in Prehistoric Art, 1989; Victoria and Albert Museum, Anthony Gardner Memorial Lecturer, 1993; visiting professor at other institutions, including University of California—Los Angeles, 1970, University of California—Santa Barbara, 1980, and University of California—Irvine, 1994–95. Lecturer throughout the world; guest on media programs, including appearance on The Today Show, National Broadcasting Company, 1969. Marg Publications, general editor, beginning 1995. Music Circle, Pasadena, CA, member of board of directors.

MEMBER: Asia Society (India; honorary fellow), Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India).

AWARDS, HONORS: Commonwealth scholar in England, 1962; fellow of John D. Rockefeller III Fund, 1964, 1969, and National Endowment for the Arts, 1974; Distinguished Achievement Award, Association of Indians in North America, 1980; Asiatic Society, Distinguished Achievement Award, 1980, B. C. Law Memorial Gold Medal, 1993; Getty scholar, 1995–96.

WRITINGS:

Rāgamālā Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, [Boston, MA], 1967.

The Art of Tibet, Asia Society (New York, NY), 1969.

(With Dipak Chandra Bhattacharyya) The Astral Divinities of Nepal, Prithivi Parkashan (Varanasi, India), 1969.

(With Hsien-Chi Tseng) Lamaist Art: The Aesthetics of Harmony, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), 1969.

(With Jan Fontein) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Oriental Art, New York Graphic Society (Greenwich, CT), 1969.

Vaisnava Iconology in Nepal: A Study in Art and Religion with 110 Illustrations, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India), 1970.

Indo-Asian Art from the John Gilmore Ford Collection, Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, MD), 1971.

(Editor) Aspects of Indian Art, Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1972.

Krishna: The Cowherd King, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1972.

(Editor) Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan Palevsky, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1973.

The Arts of Nepal, E. J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), Volume 1: Sculpture, 1974, Volume 2: Painting, 1978.

Bronzes of Kashmir, Hacker Art Books (New York, NY), 1975.

Nepal: Where the Gods Are Young, Asia Society (New York, NY), 1975.

(With Catherine Glynn) The Sensuous Line: Indian Drawings from the Paul F. Walter Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1976.

The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1977.

The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting: From the Paul F. Walter Collection, Pierpont Morgan Library (New York, NY), 1978.

The Divine Presence: Asian Sculptures from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1978.

The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence, J. Weatherhill (New York, NY), 1978.

(With Gerald James Larson and Rebecca P. Gowen) In Her Image: The Great Goddess in Indian Asia and the Madonna in Christian Culture, Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA), 1980.

Elephants and Ivories in South Asia, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1981.

Hindu Religion and Iconology According to the Tantras-ara, Vichitra Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1981.

A Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi, Western Himalayas, photographs by Lionel Fournier, R. Kumar (Vaduz, Liechtenstein), 1982.

Indian Paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lalit Kalā Akademi (New Delhi, India), 1982.

Art of Tibet: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1983, expanded edition, H. N. Abrams (New York, NY), 1990.

Court Paintings of India, 16th–19th Centuries, Navin Kumar (New York, NY), 1983.

(Compiler) Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1984.

Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries, Harper & Row (Scranton, PA), 1984.

Art of Nepal: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1985.

Tibetan Painting, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1985.

(Editor) American Collectors of Asian Art, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1986.

(With Vidya Dehejia) From Merchants to Emperors: British Artists and India, 1757–1930, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1986.

Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), Volume 1, 1986, Volume 2, 1988.

Icons of Piety, Images of Whimsey: Asian Terra-Cottas from the Walter-Grounds Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1987.

(Editor) A Pot-pourri of Indian Art, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1988.

(With Julia Meech-Pekarik) Buddhist Book Illuminations, Ravi Kumar Publishers (New York, NY), 1988.

(Editor) Art and Architecture of Ancient Kashmir, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1989.

(With others) Romance of the Taj Mahal, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1989.

(Editor) Calcutta through 300 Years: Changing Visions, Lasting Images, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1990.

Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, Hudson Hills Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor) Master Artists of the Imperial Mughal Court, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1991.

(With Stephen Markel and Janice Leoshko) Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection, Grantha (Middletown, NJ), 1993.

Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), 1993.

The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, Thames & Hudson (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) Ganesh, the Benevolent, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1995.

(Editor) On the Path to Void: Buddhist Art of the Tibetan Realm, foreword by the Dalai Lama, Marg Publications (Bombay, India), 1996.

A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Thames & Hudson (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor and contributor) Dancing to the Flute: Music and Dance in Indian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), 1997.

Divine Images, Human Visions: The Max Tanenbaum Collection of South Asian and Himalayan Art in the National Gallery of Canada, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

(Editor) 2000, Reflections on the Arts in India, Marg Publications (Mumbai, India), 2000.

(Editor) Orissa Revisited, Marg Publications (Mumbai, India), 2001.

(Editor, with José Pereira) India and Portugal: Cultural Interactions, Marg Publications (Mumbai, India), 2001.

(With Betty Seid) The Holy Cow and Other Animals: A Selection of Indian Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA), 2002.

(Editor) Indian Terracotta Sculpture: The Early Period, Marg Publications (Mumbai, India), 2002.

Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection, Antique Collectors' Club (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England), 2002.

Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2003.

Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2003.

(Editor, with Enamul Haque) Bengal: Sites and Sights, Marg Publications (Mumbai, India), 2003.

Art from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2004.

Painted Poems: Rajput Paintings from the Ramesh and Urmil Kapoor Collection, Grantha (Middletown, NJ), 2004.

Also author of Buddhist Art in Licchavi Nepal, 1974. Contributor to books, including Tibet: Tradition and Change, Albuquerque Museum (Albuquerque, NM), 1997; and Islamic and Indian Manuscripts and Paintings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, by Barbara Schmitz, Pierpont Morgan Library (New York, NY), 1997; author of foreword, Steps to Liberation: 2,500 Years of Jain Art and Religion, Etnografisch Museum (Antwerpen, Belgium), 2000. General editor, Marg, 1993.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

AB Bookman's Weekly, September 22, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors: British Artists and India, 1757–1930, p. 1054.

Apollo, May, 1983, review of A Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi, p. 412; November, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 453.

Archaeology, July, 1983, review of A Buddhist Paradise, p. 55.

Booklist, November 1, 1990, review of Art of Tibet: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, expanded edition, p. 493; January 1, 1995, review of The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, p. 792; October 1, 1997, Donna Seaman, review of A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, p. 286.

Bookwatch, November, 1995, review of Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection, p. 8; November, 1997, review of A Collecting Odyssey, p. 8.

Burlington, April, 1984, review of A Buddhist Paradise, p. 243; October, 1985, review of Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries, p. 729; January, 1988, review of Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, p. 45; March, 1988, review of Indian Sculpture, p. 242; January, 1996, review of The Peaceful Liberators, p. 43.

Choice, June, 1979, review of The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influences, p. 520; June, 1983, review of A Buddhist Paradise, p. 1443; September, 1984, review of Art of Tibet, p. 78; October, 1984, review of Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art, p. 258; December, 1985, review of Art of Nepal: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, p. 592; November, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 532; May, 1992, review of Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, p. 1384; October, 1992, review of Master Artists of the Imperial Mughal Court, p. 288; February, 1994, review of Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, p. 927; April, 1995, review of The Peaceful Liberators, p. 1290.

Far Eastern Economic Review, July 27, 1995, review of The Peaceful Liberators, p. 61.

Journal of Asian Studies, February, 1984, review of A Buddhist Paradise, p. 359; May, 1985, review of Art of Tibet, p. 605.

Library Journal, July, 1984, review of Art of Tibet, p. 1316; October 1, 1985, review of Art of Nepal, p. 94; November 1, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 89; September 15, 1990, review of Art of Tibet, expanded edition, p. 51; January, 1991, review of Art of Tibet, expanded edition, p. 102; March 15, 1992, review of Art of the Himalayas, p. 82; October 15, 1997, David McClelland, review of A Collecting Odyssey, p. 58; July, 2002, Cheryl Ann Lajos, review of Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection, p. 74; July, 2002, Ravi Shenoy, review of The Holy Cow and Other Animals: A Selection of Indian Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, p. 74.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 25, 1990, review of Art of Tibet, expanded edition, p. 27.

Nation, December 27, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 748.

New York Review of Books, March 22, 1979, review of The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting: From the Paul F. Walter Collection, p. 6; October 9, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 41.

Pacific Affairs, fall, 1989, review of A Buddhist Paradise, Western Himalayas, p. 422.

Publishers Weekly, June 1, 1984, review of Court Paintings of India, 16th–19th Centuries, p. 54; December 6, 1991, review of Art of the Himalayas, p. 64; December 12, 1994, review of The Peaceful Liberators, p. 57; October 27, 1997, review of A Collecting Odyssey, p. 68.

Religious Studies Review, July, 1983, review of Hindu Religion and Iconology According to the Tantrasara, p. 295; January, 1988, review of Indian Sculpture, p. 91.

Times Literary Supplement, March 29, 1985, review of Tibetan Paintings and Art of Tibet, p. 360; January 16, 1987, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 59.

Victorian Studies, autumn, 1987, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 133.

Washington Post Book World, December 8, 1985, review of Art of Nepal, p. 12; December 8, 1986, review of From Merchants to Emperors, p. 14.