Arts @ Mittal Institute Seminar co-sponsored with Dept. History of Art & Architecture
“Transcultural Attractions: American Photographs of an Indian Dancer”
Ajay Sinha, Professor of Art History, Mount Holyoke College
Chair: Jinah Kim, Gardner Cowles Associate Professor of History of Art & Architecture
Faculty Director, Arts @ Mittal Institute
In the Spring of 1938, an Indian dancer, Ram Gopal, posed in a variety of fantastical costumes
for the American photographer, Carl Van Vechten, in New York City. Studying over 100 largesize
photographs resulting from the photoshoot, the lecture builds an illustrated story of their
mutual fascination and exchange, triggered by the camera. The remarkable images, now part
of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, Yale University, show traces of the myriad,
transcultural relations being performed during the photoshoot. They reveal an interplay of
differing investments in the image when we ask: What does the Indian dancer show the
camera; what does the American photographer see through his lens? Their visual exploration
helps us elaborate on an underrepresented history of exchanges between the cultural worlds of
India and the U.S. in early-20th century.
Friday, November 16, 4:30pm CGIS South 153