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

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Using the archival sources, The Colonial and National Formations of the National College of Arts, Lahore, c18701960 tells the story of the formation and transformation of Pakistan's premier art institution the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, the bureaucratic body responsible forthe growth of design schools, museums, art and architecture of present-day Pakistan since the nineteenth century. By turning the pages of the NCAs history, from the days of the British Raj to the early decades of independence, the book unravels and deconstructs the disciplinary frameworks of art history and anthropology woven into the imperial and national discourses as diverse modes of objectification of Pakistani art and artists.

Reviews

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).

The National College of Art in Lahore, which began as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts in 1875, has a distinguished history. Nadeem Omar Tarars painstaking research on the institution will make an engaging contribution to the growing body of postcolonial literature on art education. Partha Mitter, author of 'Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 18501922 (1994)

In this valuable book, Tarar bridges that colonial-post-colonial divide that has so often defined institutional histories of the arts in South Asia, offering a richly detailed history of the Mayo School of Art/National College of Art. Offering nuance analysis of a rich array of archival sources, Tarar reveals the deep historical legacies structuring art education in the subcontinent, challenging the assumed binaries between art and craft, traditionalism and modernism, while also rooting the story of art education firmly at the intersection of regional, national and international politics. Abigail McGowan, University of Vermont, US

Author Bio

Nadeem Omar Tarar is an anthropologist at the Center for Culture and Development, Pakistan, and Vice President, Council of Social Sciences, Pakistan. Formerly Director of the Graduate Program in the Cultural Studies Department of the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Tarar later served as Director, NCA, Rawalpindi Campus.