‘Art and Stories From Mughal India’ Review: Courts Rich in Color

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Lee Lawrence

Posthumous portrait of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (1764), by Muhammad Rizavi Hindi. PHOTO: CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART

NEW YORK---By the end of “Art and Stories From Mughal India” at the Cleveland Museum of Art, we have seen history unfold, watched art evolve, gotten to know five emperors and sampled some of the stories they treasured. We also come away with the feeling that Sonya Quintanilla, CMA curator of Indian and Southeast Asian art, is as masterly a storyteller as the Mughal artists she showcases through 100 paintings, most once part of illustrated manuscripts or albums. Throughout, we spot the legacies of Persian and Indian traditions—among others, the latter’s dynamism and red-dominated palette; the former’s jewel tones and formalized conventions— along with the impact of European models. [link]

Cleveland Museum of Art: "Art and Stories From Mughal India" (Ends October 23, 2016); 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH; (216)421-7350; clevelandart.org