Risha Lee & Catherine Asher ǀ Imperial Nature: Flora, Fauna, and Colonialism in India

Curious about the lives of and cultural intersections between Indian leaders and English colonists in 18th-century Calcutta? Examine the urban, cultural, and intellectual ferment of this fascinating city through the lens of one English art patron: Lady Mary Impey.

Lady Impey’s move to colonial Calcutta in the late-18th century spurred her scientific and artistic collaborations in ways not possible in her native England. As shown in “Imperial Nature: Flora, Fauna, and Colonialism in India,” on view through April 20, the resulting representations of nature reshaped ideas about the natural world. Such commissions by increasingly powerful European colonial patrons, like Lady Impey, and Indian princes produced an artistic and scientific confluence of enduring value.

Risha Lee, PhD, is the Jane Emison Assistant Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the MIA. Catherine Asher is a professor of art history at the University of Minnesota.

For tickets, call (612) 870-6323 or reserve tickets online.