Storied Stone: Reframing the Philadelphia Museum of Art's South Indian Temple Hall (Paperback)

Storied Stone: Reframing the Philadelphia Museum of Art's South Indian Temple Hall By Darielle Mason, Crispin Branfoot (Contributions by), Eleanor H. Coates (Contributions by), Susan P. Treadway (Contributions by), Anna Lise Seastrand (Contributions by), Archana Venkatesan (Contributions by) Cover Image
By Darielle Mason, Crispin Branfoot (Contributions by), Eleanor H. Coates (Contributions by), Susan P. Treadway (Contributions by), Anna Lise Seastrand (Contributions by), Archana Venkatesan (Contributions by)
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Description


A behind-the-scenes history of the sixteenth-century South Indian temple hall installation in the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Storied Stone weaves together memories and scholarship to illuminate the multilayered history of the sole example of historical Indian stone temple architecture publicly displayed outside the subcontinent. While visiting Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in 1913, the Philadelphian Adeline Pepper Gibson purchased more than 60 huge granite carvings. Given in 1919 to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, these architectural elements were arranged to form a temple hall (mandapam) in the museum’s original building in 1920. The installation was reconfigured in 1940 in the museum’s current building and reimagined in 2016. The tale that unfolds—part detective story, part museum history, part case study—explores a century of debate about exhibition, authenticity, and interpretation within the museum, brought to life by striking new photography and never-before-published archival images. Offering fresh insights into the original context and meaning of the carvings, this volume also highlights the complexities of presenting the work in, and for, the twenty-first century.

Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art

About the Author


Darielle Mason is the Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art and head of the Department of South Asian Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


Product Details
ISBN: 9780876332412
ISBN-10: 0876332416
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: May 3rd, 2022
Pages: 248
Language: English