The Art of India: Traditions of Indian Sculpture, Painting and Architecture

Although the poetry and philosophy of India were discovered by Europeans over a hundred years ago, and had the most important influence, the visual arts of India remained unappreciated. While 'Sakuntala' and the 'Sermons of Buddha' were recognized as having the same stature as the writings of Sophocles or Plato, and were incorporated into every European literary tradition, the plastic arts of India weretreated as if they were pictorial supplement to the history of religion or the anthropology of a remote and alien country, of a mysterious, sensuous, exotic world. The discovery that the arts of India have their proper place in the universal history of art remained to be made. One may, without any fear of exaggeration, claim that this book is the first in the field.