how to look at the art of the British empire
December 12, 2015 3:37 AM Subscribe
There can be few more contentious subjects than the empire, and few artistic legacies more explosive. Now, Tate Britain is to hold the first major British exhibition of masterworks from the colonial period – and the results are revealing - William Dalrymple writes
Is it true that the unpleasant aspects of the British empire are so thoroughly ignored in schools?
History in English schools is very narrow, regardless of any link to unpleasantness and the Empire. I hardly learnt a thing about the Civil War, for example, nor the Anglo-Saxons, the Peasant's Revolt, the War of the Roses, or a whole slew of interesting bits of history. I should think that the only two topics we covered in any depth were the Industrial Revolution and the two World Wars. I believe the main negative part of our history that schools teach is the Atlantic slave trade, which I think has had more weight in recent years.
posted by Emma May Smith at 5:25 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
History in English schools is very narrow, regardless of any link to unpleasantness and the Empire. I hardly learnt a thing about the Civil War, for example, nor the Anglo-Saxons, the Peasant's Revolt, the War of the Roses, or a whole slew of interesting bits of history. I should think that the only two topics we covered in any depth were the Industrial Revolution and the two World Wars. I believe the main negative part of our history that schools teach is the Atlantic slave trade, which I think has had more weight in recent years.
posted by Emma May Smith at 5:25 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
I remember someone (on this site, maybe?) saying that the impression of the American Revolution they had gotten from a British education was that the U.S. had somehow been kicked out of the Empire for making trouble.
posted by kyrademon at 5:35 AM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by kyrademon at 5:35 AM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
"America, you can't quit: you're fired!"
posted by I-Write-Essays at 5:42 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 5:42 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
The collection [in Calcutta's Victoria Memorial] is, however, in a sorry state. Hungry white ants have been allowed to burrow happily both into canvases and frames; bat colonies have been tolerated behind portraits of walrus-like viceroys with fantastic topiaries of facial hair. A huge Warren Hastings has been ripped from top to bottom. Worst of all is the effect of the hundreds of dive-bombing pigeons that have been allowed to set up home in the dome. General Sir James Outram has received a direct hit on his clipped moustache; His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) has had no fewer than 13 pigeon encounters, but the primary target has been Lord Louis Mountbatten with 39 droppings.
posted by Hypatia at 5:55 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Hypatia at 5:55 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
Seeing that Paul Gilroy worked on the catalogue assures me that it will be an excellent exhibition.
Though I worry that too few people will read the catalogue, and understand how the Tate is trying to present this work.
I'm also happy to see people finally acknowledging the mendacity of pro-empire historians like Bernard Lewis and Niall Ferguson.
posted by jb at 5:58 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Though I worry that too few people will read the catalogue, and understand how the Tate is trying to present this work.
I'm also happy to see people finally acknowledging the mendacity of pro-empire historians like Bernard Lewis and Niall Ferguson.
posted by jb at 5:58 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Macaulay's essay on Lord Clive. The essay begins on p.37.
posted by bukvich at 6:48 AM on December 12, 2015
posted by bukvich at 6:48 AM on December 12, 2015
i remember that i was interested in how the dutch empire was addressed in the rijksmuseum in amsterdam. unfortunately i can't remember exactly what interested me! has anyone else seen it? care to comment on how it compares with this?
[kind of useless comment, sorry, but it's like that tip-of-the-tongue feeling...]
posted by andrewcooke at 6:49 AM on December 12, 2015
[kind of useless comment, sorry, but it's like that tip-of-the-tongue feeling...]
posted by andrewcooke at 6:49 AM on December 12, 2015
Mod note: A couple of comments deleted; let's try to avoid instant derails, please. This is about the Tate exhibition's modern critical representation of British imperialism via the art it produced, so let's try to focus generally on this. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:49 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 6:49 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dalrymple is a modern Instititution for history on the subcontinent. I've been reading his stuff with pleasure for 25 years now.
As Empire faded and was banished to the corners of consciousness he helped me see more clearly what it had and still does entail.
I like the comment from the 50's that "The British at the moment are more out of touch with the rest of the world than they have been for several generations.” and apply it to present day America.
posted by adamvasco at 7:43 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
As Empire faded and was banished to the corners of consciousness he helped me see more clearly what it had and still does entail.
I like the comment from the 50's that "The British at the moment are more out of touch with the rest of the world than they have been for several generations.” and apply it to present day America.
posted by adamvasco at 7:43 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
In fairness, the article uses the exhibition as a jumping-off point to explore the differing attitudes of the British towards their own past:
But watch British TV, read British newspapers and magazines, listen to British radio and mentions of Britain's imperial past are very, very rare. I'm not basing this on a one week visit - living in Ireland I've had exposure to 30 years of British culture second hand. Even discussing the wars of the last 15 years, they never mention the British Mandate in Iraq, the Durand Line etc. I guarantee the inhabitants of these places have long memories however, just like we have in Ireland.
posted by kersplunk at 7:47 AM on December 12, 2015 [21 favorites]
To this day, it is still possible to find historian Andrew Roberts telling the readers of the Daily Mail how lucky Indians were to have been colonised by the British.I was in London for the first time two weeks ago and to an outsider, the place is soaked in empire. I was there because I work for a reinsurance company, which is there because Lloyd's is there, which is there because of the need to insure British imperial maritime adventures and the transatlantic slave trade. The train from the airport took me past the West India and East India Docks, built to facilitate trade with the Caribbean and the Raj respectively. I visited a couple of museums full of the spoils of empire. Even demographically London is around 50% white-British with the vast majority of the rest being descendants of former colonial subjects from places like Jamaica, Pakistan, Ireland, Bangadesh etc.
...
On the other hand, there is the opposite, liberal, tendency to recoil from all memory of empire and to simply ignore and forget it. The result of this is willful obliviousness in Britain about the darker side of its imperial past.
But watch British TV, read British newspapers and magazines, listen to British radio and mentions of Britain's imperial past are very, very rare. I'm not basing this on a one week visit - living in Ireland I've had exposure to 30 years of British culture second hand. Even discussing the wars of the last 15 years, they never mention the British Mandate in Iraq, the Durand Line etc. I guarantee the inhabitants of these places have long memories however, just like we have in Ireland.
posted by kersplunk at 7:47 AM on December 12, 2015 [21 favorites]
My history lessons went something like this - Normans invaded. It was a bit shit but they gave good churches and castles and stuff. Something, something. I'm Henry the Eight, I am, I am. Something, something. Spinning Jenny, canals, steal, coal, steam. Ooops slavery! But its ok, we totes stopped it. Something, something. War is bad. War is still bad.
Empire? You what now?
posted by Helga-woo at 10:16 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
Empire? You what now?
posted by Helga-woo at 10:16 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
My history lessons went something like this - Normans invaded. It was a bit shit but they gave good churches and castles and stuff. Something, something. I'm Henry the Eight, I am, I am. Something, something. Spinning Jenny, canals, steal, coal, steam. Ooops slavery! But its ok, we totes stopped it. Something, something. War is bad. War is still bad.
War comes from Germany*. They were a bad lot, but aren't anymore. Probably.
* and so do Christmas trees and the Royal Family, but there it gets complicated.
posted by acb at 10:28 AM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
War comes from Germany*. They were a bad lot, but aren't anymore. Probably.
* and so do Christmas trees and the Royal Family, but there it gets complicated.
posted by acb at 10:28 AM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
I wanted to know more about the birds and ants being allowed to gradually destroy British colonial artwork in Calcutta. Because that seems like it's on purpose, which makes the whole setup a sort of meta-art-commentary in itself.
And really, who could blame them?
posted by emjaybee at 11:08 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
And really, who could blame them?
posted by emjaybee at 11:08 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
I am imagining Indian kids laughing at the funny bushy-moustached foreigners in the paintings, wondering who they are, while pigeon shit and ants slowly eat them away. Maybe forgetting isn't so bad?
posted by Meatbomb at 12:44 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Meatbomb at 12:44 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Slightly off topic, but I am currently reading and enjoying and would recommend M.J.Carter's The Strangler Vine which is set in 1837 India and has much to say about British imperialism and the British East India Company, a strange creature indeed.
And really, who could blame them?
Myself, I'm defaulting to the assumption that expense is responsible for any neglect. Because deliberate neglect veers in the direction of ISIS and Palmyra. There are historical remnants of all sorts of things that one does not approve of all over the world, but damnatio memoriae does no one any favors.
Something something condemned to repeat it.
posted by BWA at 1:07 PM on December 12, 2015
And really, who could blame them?
Myself, I'm defaulting to the assumption that expense is responsible for any neglect. Because deliberate neglect veers in the direction of ISIS and Palmyra. There are historical remnants of all sorts of things that one does not approve of all over the world, but damnatio memoriae does no one any favors.
Something something condemned to repeat it.
posted by BWA at 1:07 PM on December 12, 2015
I'm really surprised at some Mefites' dismissal of history teaching in British schools on the basis only (what they recall) of their personal experiences.
I am proud to be a history teacher in a state comp and I know that the history-teaching community is one of the most reflective and thoughtful in education. I agree that the Empire is probably under-played in many schools but this is most often a reflection of time constraints rather than denial, ignorance or racism. Designing curriculum (especially within the national curriculum) is always an exercise in compromise. It is not just a question of considering what should be left out to fit something else in but also a question of the level of detail necessary to make something comprehensible and yet accessible while still allowing students to develop their historical thinking and the means to express this.
As I read the article I was doing a mental comparison to the paintings we use in our lessons on the British Empire (yes, it includes the mass killing of Arawaks, West Africans, Indians, Native Americans, Zulus, Xhosa... But only in the passing detail that time allows - I'm sure my students will forget and post on future websites about how they were only taught about Hitler...) and felt the usual mixture of pride, that our school does a fairly good job,and responsibility to do it even better.
I shall try and go to this exhibition and I shall certainly read some of the books mentioned and I shall use as much I it as I can to inform and improve my professional practice.
posted by stanf at 2:38 PM on December 12, 2015 [6 favorites]
I am proud to be a history teacher in a state comp and I know that the history-teaching community is one of the most reflective and thoughtful in education. I agree that the Empire is probably under-played in many schools but this is most often a reflection of time constraints rather than denial, ignorance or racism. Designing curriculum (especially within the national curriculum) is always an exercise in compromise. It is not just a question of considering what should be left out to fit something else in but also a question of the level of detail necessary to make something comprehensible and yet accessible while still allowing students to develop their historical thinking and the means to express this.
As I read the article I was doing a mental comparison to the paintings we use in our lessons on the British Empire (yes, it includes the mass killing of Arawaks, West Africans, Indians, Native Americans, Zulus, Xhosa... But only in the passing detail that time allows - I'm sure my students will forget and post on future websites about how they were only taught about Hitler...) and felt the usual mixture of pride, that our school does a fairly good job,and responsibility to do it even better.
I shall try and go to this exhibition and I shall certainly read some of the books mentioned and I shall use as much I it as I can to inform and improve my professional practice.
posted by stanf at 2:38 PM on December 12, 2015 [6 favorites]
Stanf, I don't doubt that there are amazingly, brilliant history teachers. I studied archeology because of the amazingly brilliant history teachers I had at school.
And I'm certain that history teaching has come a long way in the 20 years since I was at school.
I considered putting a disclaimer on my post to that effect, but I didn't mostly because I forgot part way through writing it. I am sorry for that.
(I also forgot to add in a snarky line about not being invaded since the Normans...)
But... and you said it yourself, teachers are limited by time and the National Curriculum, so choices are made about what is and isn't taught, and what gets more or less attention. And I don't feel that we've got that balance right yet. We still gloss over some very uncomfortable truths.
And that's not a critism of individual teachers or the teaching profession. It's a critism of the inequalities that are still present in our society, culture and policies that means we are able to gloss over those uncomfortable truths.
I am so grateful for what teachers like yourself do, and I'm glad you're able to share these ideas with your students.
posted by Helga-woo at 4:50 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
And I'm certain that history teaching has come a long way in the 20 years since I was at school.
I considered putting a disclaimer on my post to that effect, but I didn't mostly because I forgot part way through writing it. I am sorry for that.
(I also forgot to add in a snarky line about not being invaded since the Normans...)
But... and you said it yourself, teachers are limited by time and the National Curriculum, so choices are made about what is and isn't taught, and what gets more or less attention. And I don't feel that we've got that balance right yet. We still gloss over some very uncomfortable truths.
And that's not a critism of individual teachers or the teaching profession. It's a critism of the inequalities that are still present in our society, culture and policies that means we are able to gloss over those uncomfortable truths.
I am so grateful for what teachers like yourself do, and I'm glad you're able to share these ideas with your students.
posted by Helga-woo at 4:50 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wanted to know more about the birds and ants being allowed to gradually destroy British colonial artwork in Calcutta. Because that seems like it's on purpose, which makes the whole setup a sort of meta-art-commentary in itself.
And really, who could blame them?
.....
Because deliberate neglect veers in the direction
Really? I mean seriously? The whole planet doesn't work like one insane ignorant bunch of ranting religious fanatics who can't stop fighting each other.
I was born in Calcutta and though my parents left for work a few years after, we returned to visit family periodically. Victoria Memorial is a thing. I've never heard, even among the more patriotic uncles, even a hint of letting the memorial go to ruin for any such reason. Calcutta (Kolkata) is littered with relics of Empire as it was the original capital for at least a century until Lutyens built New Delhi. You should see the state of the Museum from the same era.
To imply that its like ISIS in Palmyra, even in conjecture and in the same sentence, is taking ignorant paranoid extrapolation a step too far... Calcutta is an entirely different concept altogether, not to mention the whole region is half a continent away.
We need geography along with history. And a refresh of assumptions and frameworks so that the lenses by which the Rest of the World (tm) is viewed aren't simply the tunnel vision of the blinkers of hate and war.
---------------------------From January 2001
This exhibition presents more than fifty oil paintings from the collection of the Victoria Memorial Hall. These have been conserved and restored over the past ten years (before inauguration) through a collaborative project undertaken with the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust, London. In the course of this unique endeavour conservators from museums and institutions in Britain, Europe and the USA came to work on the collection in Calcutta, sharing their knowledge and experience with the Victoria Memorial team of conservators and restorers.
The Victoria Memorial, founded in 1906 and opened in 1921, is renowned as one of India's greatest institutions holding European art. The treasures of the collection are the oil paintings on India painted between the years 1770 and 1835 by some of the mast distinguished European artists. The landscapes and cityscapes, by Thomas and William Daniell, form the most significant group of their work in the world, and those by William Hodges, together with portraits and historical scenes by Tilly Kettle, Johann Zoffany, James Wales and Thamas Hickey are among these artists' finest achievements. The collection of works of art on paper camplements the oil paintings and makes the Victoria Memorial a remarkable centre for the appreciation and study of the visual history of India. The restored paintings will soon be on permanent display in refurbished galleries, and the rest of the collection together with the works of art on paper will be made accessible far study.
The Calcutta Tercentenary Trust was founded in 1989 to further the conservation and understanding of European heritage in India. The Trust has raised and contributed substantial funds to date to support the restoration and training project in the Victoria Memorial.
posted by infini at 11:27 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
And really, who could blame them?
.....
Because deliberate neglect veers in the direction
Really? I mean seriously? The whole planet doesn't work like one insane ignorant bunch of ranting religious fanatics who can't stop fighting each other.
I was born in Calcutta and though my parents left for work a few years after, we returned to visit family periodically. Victoria Memorial is a thing. I've never heard, even among the more patriotic uncles, even a hint of letting the memorial go to ruin for any such reason. Calcutta (Kolkata) is littered with relics of Empire as it was the original capital for at least a century until Lutyens built New Delhi. You should see the state of the Museum from the same era.
To imply that its like ISIS in Palmyra, even in conjecture and in the same sentence, is taking ignorant paranoid extrapolation a step too far... Calcutta is an entirely different concept altogether, not to mention the whole region is half a continent away.
We need geography along with history. And a refresh of assumptions and frameworks so that the lenses by which the Rest of the World (tm) is viewed aren't simply the tunnel vision of the blinkers of hate and war.
---------------------------From January 2001
This exhibition presents more than fifty oil paintings from the collection of the Victoria Memorial Hall. These have been conserved and restored over the past ten years (before inauguration) through a collaborative project undertaken with the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust, London. In the course of this unique endeavour conservators from museums and institutions in Britain, Europe and the USA came to work on the collection in Calcutta, sharing their knowledge and experience with the Victoria Memorial team of conservators and restorers.
The Victoria Memorial, founded in 1906 and opened in 1921, is renowned as one of India's greatest institutions holding European art. The treasures of the collection are the oil paintings on India painted between the years 1770 and 1835 by some of the mast distinguished European artists. The landscapes and cityscapes, by Thomas and William Daniell, form the most significant group of their work in the world, and those by William Hodges, together with portraits and historical scenes by Tilly Kettle, Johann Zoffany, James Wales and Thamas Hickey are among these artists' finest achievements. The collection of works of art on paper camplements the oil paintings and makes the Victoria Memorial a remarkable centre for the appreciation and study of the visual history of India. The restored paintings will soon be on permanent display in refurbished galleries, and the rest of the collection together with the works of art on paper will be made accessible far study.
The Calcutta Tercentenary Trust was founded in 1989 to further the conservation and understanding of European heritage in India. The Trust has raised and contributed substantial funds to date to support the restoration and training project in the Victoria Memorial.
posted by infini at 11:27 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
We'd have to ask Dalrymple when exactly he was last in Cal and when he was referring to regarding the birds in the painting. I don't deny the possibility at all, if you look at the Museum links, its just Cal.. an aging graceful Queen living a life of genteel poverty
I'm guessing it was artistic license and not an unbelievable one
posted by infini at 11:38 PM on December 12, 2015
I'm guessing it was artistic license and not an unbelievable one
posted by infini at 11:38 PM on December 12, 2015
Excuse my ignorance but how can the English Empire be blamed for the genocide of the Guanches of the Canary Islands ?
(On another matter I nominate Clive of India as histories most evil Englishman for his sacking of the Bengal Treasury).
posted by Narrative_Historian at 1:04 AM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
(On another matter I nominate Clive of India as histories most evil Englishman for his sacking of the Bengal Treasury).
posted by Narrative_Historian at 1:04 AM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
On another matter I nominate Clive of India as histories most evil Englishman for his sacking of the Bengal Treasury
Sorry, that title goes to Cecil Rhodes. For everything he did.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:12 AM on December 13, 2015
Sorry, that title goes to Cecil Rhodes. For everything he did.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:12 AM on December 13, 2015
« Older We Asked Astrobiologists About Jose Canseco's Plan... | Next stop, Arkham. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Dip Flash at 5:12 AM on December 12, 2015