Entrance to the Cave of Karlee (Karli), Maharashtra. Marianne North (1830-1890). 1878. Oil on paper. H 35.8 x W 25.5 cm. Collection of the Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accession no. MNS20, given by Dame Janet Vaughan, 1978. Photo credit: The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
This painting shows the entrance to a famous Buddhist rock-cut temple in Maharashtra, the largest of its era in India, and demonstrates the variety and particular skill of North's work. Careful observation and accurate representation were important, of course — here, she skilfully conveys rock surface, rock-carving and the capacity of nature to find a foothold even in the dark cave and amongst the works of man. But there is more than that: the dwarfing of the human presence, and yet its insistence on itself (in the assertive red of the officiator's headdress), are also subtly conveyed. North said that she found the cave "more interesting than beautiful" (I: 339), but the work was shown in the Tate's "Artist and Empire" exhibition of 2015/16, in preference to an earlier engraving by James Fergusson (with whose work North was familiar): "Her painting is more dynamic and animated by comparison, its colour, texture and and inclusion of carefully observed individuals conveying a sense of how past structures still embodied meaning in the present" (Smith 70).
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Bibliography
Entrance to the Cave of Karlee (Karli), Maharashtra. Art UK. Web. 29 August 2023.
North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: being the autobiography of Marianne North. Vol. I. London and New York, Macmillan, 1893. Internet Archive, from a copy of a book in the Wellcome Library. Web. 29 August 2023.
Smith, Alison. "Marianne North (1830-1890). Entrance to the Cave of Karlee (Karli), Maharashtra. 1878." Artist and Empire: Facing Britain's Imperial past. London: Tate Publishing, 2015. Edited by Smith, David Blayney Brown and Carol Jacobi. 70-71. [Review.]
Created 29 August 2023