The second installation of the exhibition Painted Tales from India focuses on Indian painting after 1750 and the mingling of Mughal and Rajput styles. Even before 1750, these seemingly incompatible aesthetics had often enriched each other; in late Indian painting, the intricate splendor of Imperial Mughal masterpieces seems to dim, the vigorous passion of early Rajput versions of the great mythological themes to soften. By the late eighteenth century, the pace of interaction quickens, putting Mughal illusionism at the service of growing Hindu religiosity. The mix is made more complex by the presence of European subjects, artists, and patrons, first under the commercial East India Company, then under the political Raj, and by steps along India's long political road to independence and partition. Even recent folk traditions do not stand still, as shown by four paintings made by village women of Bihar that conclude the exhibit. The moral of this small installation is that flexibility is a strength, enabling tradition to continue through cross-fertilization and transformation.
