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From the Kaveri river to the West, back and forth: a museum born out of a translocated Hindu deity of origins

Virginie Olivier, Charlotte Schmid, Edmond de Taillac

I felt the time had come to collect all such mutilated and neglected pieces of art in stone and bronze and house them in a safe place in a palace at Tanjore [Thanjavur] in order to protect and preserve the remnants of our artistic inheritance from the ravages of time and the hands alike of the irreverent vandal and the unscrupulous pedlar in art-ware

T. K. Palaniappan 1982 (1953)

In 1951, a Chola dynasty museum, the “Thanjavur Art Gallery and Museum,” was born in the heart of the Tamil country, out of a striking statue spotted in a suburb of the city (Fig. 1). The size and refinement of this four-faced, four-armed god statue suggested a glorious past that was romanticized in the story of its discovery. The statue, which stopped being worshipped under unknown circumstances, was rescued from a canal in which the Kaveri river flowed; the valley of the latter defined the territory of the most famous dynasty of the Tamil country, the Cholas, in whose honor the museum was created. This representation of a rather peculiar deity was thus spared exile and became a catalyst for a museum offering neglected or stolen works of art the chance of a new life, as suggested by R. Davis (2018).

When the statue’s rediscovery sparked the interest of the North Indian Calcutta museum, local resistance prompted the then District Collector, T. K. Palaniappan, to propose a Thanjavur museum for housing high-quality, abandoned works of such type. Both the account of the discovery and local advocacy played a key role in instigating the creation of a museum around a statue that remains enigmatic even today and retains its unique aura.

The statue stands today at the centre of the Thanjavur Art Gallery and Museum’s central hall (Fig. 1), and is surrounded by 9th-13th century Chola sculptures. The label of the museum identifies it as “Brahma (the creator with four faces);” its faces turned in the four cardinal directions are actually apt to mark the birth of a place, and to symbolise the splendour of Chola art. However the scattering, since 1926, of pieces with the same iconography and workmanship, all from Thanjavur’s vicinity, have imbued this statue with emblematic significance far beyond its physical attributes (Figs. 2-5). The history of those pieces reveals complex dynamics, which combine colonial and post-colonial ties with the West, regional tensions within the young Indian nation, and the role of a French “comptoir,” namely Pondicherry, in amplifying the statue’s value. The latter clearly derived from the financial and symbolic prestige that translocation, as defined by Bénédicte Savoy (2024, p. 11-12), has conferred on the members of the group to which it belongs, a set of ten statues identified so far.

Fig. 1. The Brahmā-Śiva at the Thanjavur Art Gallery (no. 16), photo by Babu (N. Ramaswamy).

This group of ten from Thanjavur, carved from the same granite, exhibits a unique 9th-10th century style and iconography (Figs. 1–5). The four-headed, four-armed god sits on a lotus-throne, holding a lotus and rosary, with one hand in a fearlessness gesture and the other resting on his thigh. While the attributes suggest Brahmā, a third eye on the multiple foreheads of the statue is characteristic of Śiva (Fig. 2). Its presence raises identification questions, leading us to refer to these statues as Brahmā-Śiva.

Fig. 2. Detail of two of the heads of the Brahmā-Śiva of Kaṇṭiyūr, today exhibited in front of the old building of the District Collector Office, photo by V. Olivier.

This iconographic ambiguity has captivated Western audiences, reinforcing stereotypes of Eastern mysticism. Today, only five of the original group remain in India. Two are in Thanjavur: one in the Thanjavur Art Gallery and Museum (Fig. 1) and another in front of the District Collector’s colonial building (Fig. 2), originating from nearby Kaṇṭiyūr. A third Brahmā-Śiva is worshipped in Kaṇṭiyūr (Fig. 3), while a fourth stands in Centalai’s temple courtyard, one more settlement close to Thanjavur. The fifth, acquired by the National Museum in New Delhi in 1969, has an unclear provenance, but curator C. Sivaramamurti likely played a role in its transfer, given his earlier attempt to claim a similar statue for Calcutta’s museum.

Fig. 3. The Brahmā-Śiva of the temple of Kaṇṭiyūr, photo by C. Schmid.

The New Delhi Brahmā-Śiva reflects C. Sivaramamurti’s ongoing fascination with these statues, likely stimulated by Western interest. As curator of India’s pioneering museums in Madras and Calcutta, which were opened during the colonial period, and as director of the National Museum in New Delhi established after independence, Sivaramamurti would have known that five similar statues had been acquired by Western museums starting as early as 1926.

That very year, two sculptures were exported from India through a partnership between Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (1885–1945), a French archaeologist living in Pondicherry and relying on a local Indian network based on his former students at the Colonial College in Pondicherry, as recently demonstrated by Edmond de Taillac, and Ching Tsai Loo (1880–1957), a Chinese art dealer based in Paris and New York. They collaborated with Joseph Hackin (1886–1941), a curator at the Musée Guimet, in a venture that blurred the lines between scientific research, colonial plunder, and exotic art trade – ensuing transactions were neither fully licit, nor completely illicit. This trio played a significant role in cultivating Western interest in Indian art, with Jouveau-Dubreuil becoming Loo’s acquisition agent for “des pièces (…) tout à fait exceptionnelles” (absolutely exceptional pieces) in 1924 (Letter from C. T. Loo to G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, dated July 9, 1924).

In the following years, the collaboration between Jouveau-Dubreuil, Hackin, and Loo led to a significant buildup of Indian art collections at the Musée Guimet and in the West, particularly in the United States, where the Chinese dealer operated a branch since 1915. Jouveau-Dubreuil would regularly ship sculptures from India to Paris, where Hackin would select pieces for the Musée Guimet or receive commissions of approximately one-third of revenues. C. T. Loo sold the other pieces to collectors and museums in the West.

In the second half of 1926, a batch including two Brahmā-Śiva reached Paris. “Nous avons eu successivement une épidémie de mères – puis une épidémie de Sivas à 4 têtes,” (we successively got an epidemic of mothers, followed by one of four-headed Sivas) writes G. Jouveau-Dubreuil to J. Hackin and C. T. Loo, on January 4, 1928.

None of the four-headed statues was selected for Guimet; and the pair of Brahmā-Śiva continued their journey to the United States, where the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York (Fig. 5), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired them in 1927. The Detroit Institute of Arts bought a third Brahmā-Śiva in 1928. Mrs John D. Rockfeller donated a fourth one to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1942 (Fig. 4) ; the Worcester Art Museum bought a fifth from a New York Asian art dealer in 1964. The Brahmā-Śiva that can be admired today at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Fig. 5) illustrates how these sculptures’ westward journey from the Chola capital had dramatically increased their value—if only in financial terms. This is the statue initially acquired by the Buffalo Museum. It was auctioned in 2007 for $4 million-plus dollars, a price rarely attained by any Indian sculpture.

Fig. 4. The Brahmā-Śiva in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (42.120), photo by C. Schmid.
Fig. 5. Brahmā-Śiva, 9th-10th c., Tamil Nadu. Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.155. Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, this work was accepted in honor of Stanislaw Czuma in recognition of his long service to the CMA. © Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Brahmā-Śiva who welcomes the visitor in the Thanjavur Art Gallery showcases the Chola dynasty’s global reach far beyond its native land. In the 1930s, the great historian K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, writing a history of the Cholas, emphasised the colonisation of South-East Asia, which the dynasty claimed to have instigated. Faced with a British colonising power, he highlighted the Indian colonial impact on the area. Thanks to him, but also thanks to the translocation of Chola statues, facilitated by more or less conscious or willing agents like Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, “corsaire archéologique pour la France,” (archaeological raider for France) as the man characterised himself in a letter to Joseph Hackin dated May 28, 1931, and with the help of a well-organised Indian network, the art dealer C. T. Loo, museum curators and private collectors, galleries and auction houses, Chola art’s reputation spread worldwide. The translocation of the Brahmā-Śiva has, in turn, heightened awareness and appreciation of a unique heritage.

Sources

Archives du musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet:

Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, Correspondance 1926, 1927, 1928, file Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil.

Photographic archives, box titled: “Inde du Sud,”” Inde du Centre,” “Sculptures isolées.”

Références

Richard H. Davis, “New lives for Returned Images: The Family of Icons from Sripuranthan,” Marg 69, 2018, no. 3, p. 64–77.

Virginie Olivier, « Les Brahmā-Śiva de la région de Tanjore : un syncrétisme singulier aux origines inexpliquées », Arts Asiatiques 75, 2020, p. 5–26.

T. K. Palaniappan,  “A Year of Progress,” in The Divine Bronzes. The Thanjavur Art Gallery Bronze Sculptures, S. Rathnasabapathy (ed.), Thanjavur: Thanjavur Art Gallery Administration, 1982.

Bénédicte Savoy, À qui appartient la beauté, Paris : La Découverte, 2024..

A Modern Ethiopian Artwork in Contemporary Greece

Maria-Mirka Palioura

In 2003, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens received a significant donation from Aikaterini Exarchou-Gensonnet (1921-2005), an expatriate from Ethiopia. The collection included antiquities, jewelry and church paraphernalia from Ethiopia, alongside a small but notable collection of twenty paintings by Ethiopian artists. These paintings –tempera on parchment and processed textile– are probably dated to the second half of the 20th century. The artworks were incorporated into the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection of the University Museum and showcased in a 2005 exhibition at the Kostis Palamas University building in central Athens. The exhibition, titled “Ethiopian Folk Art: Painting – Handicraft, Donation of Aikaterini Exarchou” was curated by the late Art History professor, Nikos Zias (1939-2020), who also edited the accompanying Greek language catalogue (Λαϊκή Αιθιοπική Τέχνη: Ζωγραφική, 2005).

The collection’s artworks depict themes related to Christian faith and worship, historical memory and everyday life. Among these is a notable piece by Qengeta Jembere Hailu (Andabiet, 1913-Addis Ababa 1994), which portrays the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1896, specifically Τhe Battle of Adwa (March 1, 1896) (Jonas, 2011) (Fig. 1). This decisive victory secured Ethiopia’s independence for several decades, lasting until 1935, when the second Italo-Ethiopian war began. The Battle of Adwa remains a significant historical reference point in the broader context of anti-colonial resistance, not only in Ethiopia but across Africa (The Adwa Victory Memorial, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).

Qangeta Jembere Hailu, The Battle of Adwa

Fig. 1. Qangeta Jembere Hailu, The Battle of Adwa, 2nd half of 20th c., tempera on cloth, 76Χ129 cm. (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Museum, Modern and Contemporary Art Collection)

In this context, Hailu’s work is of particular interest due to its multi-layered narratives. It reflects an event from the history of Ethiopia while also engaging with its reception within collective memory. At the same time, as an artwork that was sold and transported beyond Africa, ending up in the museum of an educational institution in a European country which does not have a colonial past, it embodies the complexities of cultural circulation. Its inclusion in the museum’s collections marks a new chapter in its biography – where official history and individual stories intersect – creating a canvas of fragmented memories, connotations and fluid interpretations.

Qangeta Jembere Hailu, a priest and renowned painter of traditional art, trained under his uncle, who specialized in religious themes subjects for Ethiopian temples. Hailu adhered to the so-called “traditional” style of Ethiopian painting, characterized by religious iconography and historical narratives. His life was marked by resistance; he fought in the second Italo-Ethiopian war (1935-1936) and later during the Italian occupation (1936-1941). After settling in Addis Ababa in 1948, He took up the paintbrush and resumed his artistic practice sustaining himself through his artwork until his death in 1994. His career, however, was notably affected by the political shift in 1974 with the rise of the Derg junta. The regime’s establishment curtailed the interest of foreign tourists, who were looking for something local and exotic (Silverman and Fisseha 1999, 156-179). Through his depiction of The battle of Antowa, according to the contemporary pictorial language in Ethiopia, very different from the European naturalistic perception, Hailu contributed to the glorification of Ethiopia’s victorious past, particularly the reign of Emperor Menelik II (Atse Menilik) (r. 1889 -1913) (Fig. 2).

The Battle of Antowa: The Last Rally of General Dabormida,

Fig. 2. The Battle of Antowa: The Last Rally of General Dabormida, The Graphic, 11 April 1896 (Wikimedia Commons)

The abundance of pictorial parallel representations of the battle of Adwa testifies to the existence of a visual template established in the late 19th century. This template not only shaped artistic conventions but also resonated strongly with the buying public—a trend that persists to this day. The recurrence of almost identically painted renderings of the battle constitutes an intriguing subject for further scholarly investigation, offering insights into the dynamics of visual tradition, collective memory, and the commodification of historical narratives (Fig. 3 and 4).

Unknown, The Battle of Adwa, first half of 20th c.

Fig. 3. Unknown, The Battle of Adwa, first half of 20th c. (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.)

Marcos Jembere (Qangeta Jembere’s son), Battle of Adwa

Fig. 4. Marcos Jembere (Qangeta Jembere’s son), Battle of Adwa, 1993, 293,91 by 150 cm (Michigan State University Museum)

Several versions of the subject preserved in different museums are available online: The Battle of Adwa, 1896 (Horniman Museum and Gardens, UK); three versions of The Battle of Adwa, first half of 20th c., Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art; The Battle of Adwa, 1940-1949 (The British Museum)  ; The Battle of Adwa, 1975, by Shibru Nuru (Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Ethiopian Collection) ; The Battle of Adwa, (Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam).

The Battle of Adwa is part of the secular themes that, as early as the 19th century, appeared in ecclesiastical murals depicting battles and portraits of local lords (Biasio 2009, 14-25). The composition is structured vertically and in overlapping zones, forming two distinct solid parts where the opposing camps are aligned with their respective flags symbolizing national identity. The Ethiopian tricolor flag, depicted twice, presents a visual anachronism as it was officially established by Emperor Menelik II in October 1897, a year after the battle.

Historical elements are evident in the composition (Fig. 1), such as the numerical superiority of the Ethiopian army with the suggestive presence of countless heads, and the obvious organized military formation of the Italian army behind low fortifications. The figures of Emperor Menelik II, his court dignitaries and the Ethiopian church, Empress Taitu, and Commander-in-chief Tafari (second zone left) embody the intersection of secular and religious authority in the struggle. The central placement of the onrushing Ethiopians in the center –amongst them the prominent hero general (Fitaurari) Gebeyehu– defines the battlefield and reinforces the heroic element. The depiction of fallen dead Ethiopians at the lower zone reinforces the connotations of heroic sacrifice for the country’s independence. Saint George, Ethiopia’s patron saint, is illustrated in the upper central part, haloed with the colors of the Ethiopian flag, symbolically assisting the Ethiopians by menacingly brandishing his spear toward the Italian army.

The austere design, absence of perspective, flatness, isocephaly, vivid colors, honesty, and balanced composition reflect the iconographic tradition of Ethiopia as well as of Coptic art. The intense narrativity is further enriched by explanatory inscriptions in the official Amharic script. The top left identifies the painter and his origin (Kegn Geta Jenbere Hailu from Gondar), the flags of the two enemies (Ethiopia, Italy) and Saint George. Below, an inscription records the defeat of the Italians (The Battle of Adwa, the victory of the Ethiopian army and the defeat of the Italian army). Notably, Ethiopian protagonists of the battle are distinctly highlighted, while the Italian side is noted once (left, among the Italian soldiers). Emperor Menelik (Atse Menilik) is depicted with a crown of feathers (top left), and Chief general (Fitaurari) Gebeyehu, dressed in green costume and wielding a bloody sword, is discernible at top center of the painting.

The Battle of Adwa aligns with the 20th-century Ethiopian artistic production, conventionally categorized as “traditional” art. Alternatively, it may be considered “non-Western art” (Davies 2000, 199-216), a term that better encapsulates works produced post-1930s for foreign markets. Stanislaw Chojnacki labeled such art as “degenerate” (Silverman and Fisseha 1999, 158) considering that “modernization” or “Europeanization” severed its ties with Ethiopian Christian painting traditions. This perspective reflects Western biases regarding “authenticity”, often overlooking the evolving dynamics of this artistic language.

Hailu’s painting related to traditional forms, categorized as “antika” or “airport art”, addresses the need to construct a “great tradition of a powerful state”; appealing to foreign visitors of the country seeking “authentic” Ethiopian artifacts (Rubinkowska-Anioł 2017, 114). The acquisition of The Battle of Adwa, by Aikaterini Exarchou, fits into this context. The painting idealizes historical and cultural values, expressing an objective truth through iconography.

Upon transfer to Greece and donation to the Museum of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the painting assumed a new semantic context. Approximately twenty years earlier, in the first exhibition held in 2005, the museum engaged with the Ethiopian community in Athens. Today, within the context of this collection’s imminent re-exhibition, the museum is facing the challenge of adopting new policies distinguishing this collection of paintings from Ethiopian antiquities, amassed through colonial-type practices. Amidst global discourse on decolonizing academic collections, the University Museum has an opportunity to reassess its approach, considering the historical Greek presence in Ethiopia.

The value of The Battle of Adwa extends beyond aesthetics to encompass Ethiopia’s collective memory. It also testifies to the personal aesthetic of A. Exarchou, who was an artist herself and acquired the painting, during her long stay in the country with her husband –an engineer– in the 1960s. The painting, a memorabilia of her life, holds multifaceted significance. Detailed documentation of this work and the rest of the paintings acquired by Exarchou ensures their proper future exhibition (Sfyroera 2013, 92) aligned with her intent to share her collection with the public, especially students and pupils. In Spring 2024, the University Museum took a preliminary step by exhibiting works from the collection alternately at the entrance of the library building of the Faculty of Philosophy (Fig. 5).

Qangeta Jembere Hailu, The Fest [in Gondar]

Fig. 5. Qangeta Jembere Hailu, The Fest [in Gondar], 2nd half of 20th c., tempera on cloth, 77 by 108 cm (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Museum, Modern and Contemporary Art Collection)

In addition, the museum can explore and incorporate connections between the Ethiopian community in Greece with their national past and culture. In this framework, The Battle of Adwa can serve as an idiosyncratic site of collective memory (lieu de mémoire), for Ethiopian immigrants in Greece, a cultural artifact fostering collective identity across generations. At the same time, the painting bridges past and present and future, by engaging with long-lasting issues regarding European perceptions of diverse historical and cultural experiences.

Many thanks to Assera Debele, the director of the Ethiopian Socio-Cultural Center “Aithiops” based in Athens, for his valuable assistance in translation, as well as to Prof. P. Petrides and Dr. M. Leontari.

References

Elisabeth Biasio, “Contemporary Ethiopian Painting in Traditional Style. From Church based to Tourist Art”, African Arts 42, no. 1, Spring 2009, p. 14-25.

Stephen Davies, “Non-Western Art and Art’s Definition” in Noël Carroll (ed.), Theories of Art Today, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000, p. 199-216.

Raymond Jonas, The Battle of Adwa, African Victory in the Age of Empire, Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 2011.

Λαϊκή Αιθιοπική Τέχνη: Ζωγραφική – Χειροτεχνία. Δωρεά Αικατερίνης Εξάρχου [Ethiopian Folk Art: PaintingHandicraft, Aikaterini Exarchou Donation], Exhibition Catalogue, Athens: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2005.

Alexandra S. Sfyroera, “Aikaterina Exarchou-Gensonnet and the Museum of Archaeology and History of Art. The chronicle of a ‘reciprocal relationship’ through the pages of her personal archive, Volume of Abstracts (Greek – English), Νinth Scientific Symposium, Excavation and research, IX: From the Research Work of the Archaeology Department and Art History, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2013.

Raymond A. Silverman and Girma Fisseha, “Jembere and his son Marcos, Traditional Painting at the End of Twentieth Century” in Raymond A. Silverman (ed.), Ethiopia, Traditions of Creativity, East Lansing: Michigan State University Museum/Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999, p. 156-181.

Hanna Rubinkowska-Anioł, “Antika – Ethiopian Airport Art as a Construction of Tradition”, in A. Pawłowska, A. Drozdowski and A. Kuczyńska (eds), The Artistic Traditions of Non-European Cultures, University of Warsaw, Polish Institute of World Art Studies, Vol. 5, 2017, p. 113-128.