Art Education in Colonial India: Implementation and Imposition

Historical inquiry in art education forms the basis of any research undertaken in the field. It is on this path that we discover ignored moments and personalities and clarify challenging ideas, thus approaching history from multiple perspectives. This historical study attempts to reframe the past of colonial Indian art education within the broader context of art education histories. It raises questions about the teaching of drawing and negotiation of teaching practices in between the cultures of the colonizer and the colonized and analyzes the similarities and differences between the art education practices of England and India. The study offers a powerful reference point from which present day practices for teaching of drawing and issues of culturally embedded pedagogy in art schools in India can be examined. By reframing the colonial past, this study invites students, especially South East Asian students, to establish a relationship with their past in the postcolonial context. It is an historical, theoretical, and comparative analysis, providing an opportunity to examine Indian art education from the position of both the colonizer and the colonized.