Kavita Singh (5 November 1964 – 30 July 2023) was an Indian art historian. A professor of art history, she served as the dean at the School of Arts and Aesthetics of

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

Education

Kavita Singh obtained her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at

Lady Shri Ram College Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi. History Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife Phoolan Devi (Lady Shri Ram), the college bega ...

, her MFA in 1987 from

M.S. University Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, Gujarat, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a public university on April 30, 1949 and was renamed after ...

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

and her PhD in 1996 from

Punjab University Punjab University may refer to: India * Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab * I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...

Career

Singh was appointed to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2001, where she was a co-founder of the internationally recognized School of Art and Aesthetics. She served there as a professor till her death. Her research interests covered the history of Indian painting, particularly the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

and Rajput schools, and the history and politics of museums, with a special focus on India. Before joining JNU, Singh taught at the

College of Art, Delhi College of Art, Delhi (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is an art college for advanced training in visual arts established in 1942 under the arts department of the Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University). One of the oldest Art sch ...

and the

National Institute of Technology Delhi The National Institute of Technology, Delhi (NIT Delhi or NITD) is a public technical university located in Delhi, India. Declared as an List of Institutes of National Importance, Institute of National Importance by the Government of India, i ...

. She was also a research editor for Marg Publications, and a visiting guest curator at the San Diego Museum of Art, during which time she co-curated the exhibition ''Power and Desire: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art, Edwin Binney 3rd Collection''. The exhibition ran in New York from 10 October 2000 to 7 January 2001. A catalogue by Omina Okada appeared subsequently. In 2007, Singh led a curatorial team for the second exhibition of the newly opened Devi Art Foundation. The exhibition was titled ''Where in the World''. An abridged version of Singh's introduction to the catalogue appeared online. From 2009–2012 she was a partner at the

Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz The Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (KHI) is one of the oldest research institutions dedicated to the history of art and architecture in Italy, where facets of European, Mediterranean and global history are investigated. Founded in 1897 b ...

of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

with Professor Dr. Gerhard Wolf and Hannah Baader for a project called ''The Temple and the Museum: Sites for Art in India''.

Death

Kavita Singh succumbed to cancer on 30 July 2023, at the age of 58.

Recognition

Kavita Singh was elected as an International Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, one of 37 foreign inductees that year, and the only one from India in the field of Arts and Humanities. In 2018, she was awarded the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award granted to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards for researc ...

in Humanities for her work in the field of art history and visual culture. In her acceptance speech, she joked that her presence at the ceremony was illegitimate as her leave from JNU to visit Bangalore had not been approved. She received numerous fellowships and scholarships throughout her career, including from the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute,

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, and the

Asia Society The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Lectures

Looking East, Looking West: Mughal Painting between Persia and Europe
(Getty Research Institute, 2015)
Congress of Kings: Thoughts on a painting of Muhammad Shah Rangila
(Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, 2018)
Word against Image in Mughal Chronicles
(Bangalore International Centre, 2021)
A New Museum for a New Nation
(Fralin Museum of Art at The University of Virginia, 2021) *
Endless Prospects: View from a Terrace in 18th-century Awadh
(Met Museum, 2022)
Book of Gold
(American Institute of Indian Studies, 2022)
An Embarrassment of Riches: Indian Architectural Exhibits at the V&A
(Sydney Asian Art Series, 2023)

Publications

* ''New Insights Into Sikh Art'' (2003, ed.) * ''InFlux: Contemporary Art in Asia'' (2013, co-ed.) * ''No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia'' (2014, co-ed.) * ''Nauras - The Many Arts of the Deccan'' (2015, co-ed.) * ''Museums, Heritage, Culture: Into the Conflict Zone'' (2015, co-ed.) * ''Real Birds in Imagined Gardens: Mughal Painting Between Persia and Europe'' (2017) * ''Scent Upon A Southern Breeze: The Synaesthetic Arts of the Deccan'' (2018, ed.) * ''Ghosts of Future Nations: Gods, Migrants and Tribals in the Late Modern Museum'' (2024, co-ed. Museum of Ephemera, forthcoming, part of the series

India Since the 90s India Since the 90s is a six-volume collection of texts and images produced over the last three decades, in social theory, performance, moving image practices, urban studies, museum studies and photography. The six titles in the series are ''The Hu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kavita 1964 births 2023 deaths Indian art historians Indian women historians 20th-century Indian historians 20th-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian scientists Panjab University alumni Historians of Indian art 20th-century women writers Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University Lady Shri Ram College alumni Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Deaths from cancer in India Academic staff of Delhi University