The photographs document prehistoric through 17th century A.D. architecture in India, Java, and Burma (now Myanmar), including religious and secular structures and engineered works. There are also landscapes showing the sites of early structures in Kashmir. Structures shown include bridges, Buddhist temples (with sculptures), dwellings (such as caves and huts), pagodas, ruins, and walls (with sculpture). The photographs also include an informal portrait of a young girl, group portraits of men and women washing in the Ganges River, and some contemporary landscape shots. Some items with description, location, and name of building or site. The collection is compiled from photographs taken by various photography studios, including Johnston and Hoffman and Lala Deen Dayal and Sons.
Arrangement:
Organized by photography studio, then by original photograph number.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1989.01
Provenance:
The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University Gift; 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
The collection contains materials related to Louise Cort's book "Shigaraki: Potters' Valley" (1979, 2000), concerning ceramics manufactured in the Shigaraki area of Japan. Primarily research-related, the collection includes her dissertation, research notes, index card files, originals and copies of source materials, drawings/sketches, and photographic materials (primarily black and white, some color; formats include prints, contact sheets, and negatives). Also included are post-publication materials, including royalty statements and related correspondence, clippings of reviews, correspondence, and other materials related to Cort's ongoing interest in Shigaraki.
Biographical / Historical:
Louise Allison Cort was born in 1944 in Philidelphia to parents John Shaw Cort Jr. and Mary Yunck Cort. Her interest in Asian ceramics began after traveling to Japan in 1961 as part of the American Field Service's high school exchange student program. She was particularly interested in the everyday wares used by her host mother. While in college, she took an intensive Japanese language course, and she traveled to Tokyo for further language study in graduate school. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Simmons College, with a minor in art history. Cort then received her graduate degree from Oxford University, studying Japanese art history. In March 1968, she traveled to Shigaraki for the first time, inspired by the Shigaraki ceramics she had seen in her visits to Japanese museums. She returned multiple times to research Shigaraki's history, ceramics, and modern life. For over three years (1976-1979), Cort lived in Kyoto while doing research for her book, Shigaraki, Potters' Valley. Later, she traveled to India for a year and a half (1979-1981) to research earthenware, resulting in the book Temple Potters of Puri (2012), coauthored with Purna Chandra Mishra. Those materials are held by the South Asian Institute archives of Heidelberg University, Germany, and film footage is in the Human Studies Film Archive, Smithsonian Institution. The archives of her research on present-day ceramics in mainland Southeast Asia between 1986 and 2018 in collaboration with Leedom Lefferts is held by the Yale University archive.
From 1969 to 1976, she served as Assistant Curator of Oriental Art at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. She then served as an Associate for Research at the Fogg from 1978 to 1981. In 1981, she began her work at the Freer Gallery of Art as a Museum Specialist, serving in that role until 1989. From 1989 to 1994, she was Assistant Curator, and then moved to Associate Curator from 1994 to 1995. Cort then held the position of Curator of Ceramics from 1995 until her retirement in 2018. She remains curator emerita. As a scholar, her interests focused on historic and contemporary Asian ceramics, as well as other craft traditions. She published her first book "Shigaraki, Potters Valley" in 1979. Her book was reprinted in 2000. Cort has published numerous other articles and books relating to Japanese, Southeast Asian, and South Asian art. These include Temple Potters of Puri (with Purna Chandra Mishra) in 2012 and Chigusa and the Art of Tea (with Andrew Watsky) in 2014. She received the Koyama Fujio Memorial Prize and the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award in 2012 for her contributions to research on Japanese ceramics.
Citation:
Louise Allison Cort Collection. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Collection consists of three sets of silver gelatin black and white photographs. The first is a bound volume, titled Photographs of the Paintings in the Razam-Nameh at The Palace, Jaipur, India, prepared by Alban G. Widgery, containing 105 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation and abridgement of the Mahabharata, including labels. Widgery obtained the photographs from the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which holds the original Razmnama illuminated manuscript, in Jaipur, India before 1924. The volume is bound inside a cover originally belonging to Plants of the Falkland Islands.
The second is a larger set of 148 photographs of Razmnama/Mahabharata scenes. These are copy prints made in the 1970s by Freer Gallery of Art staff of photographs from the volume assembled by Widgery, including additional images that are not in the volume.
The third is a set of 154 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana from the collection of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which gave the photographs to the Freer Gallery of Art in the early 1970s.
Arrangement:
Arranged by format, thereunder alphabetically by title, thereunder numerically.
Biographical / Historical:
These photographs document paintings illustrating scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. The original paintings Widgery photograph are from the collections of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur, India. Both works were commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar I (1542-1605).
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, located at The City Palace in Jaipur, India, was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. It preserves and offers access to the palace itself, as well as collections of paintings, textiles, photographs, and archives.
Alban Widgery (1887-1968) was most noted as a professor of philosophy at Duke University, where he served as chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1930-1946. He specialized in the philosophy of religion and took particular interest in India, where he traveled extensively.
Provenance:
Transferred from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
Citation:
Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Razmnama and Ramayana Photographs, FSA.A2019.07. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
Milton S. Eisenhower Library South Asian Architecture Photographs. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 1989.
