Using archival sources, The Colonial and National Formations of the National College of Arts, Lahore, c1870–1960 explores the colonial and postcolonial history of arts education in Pakistan by focusing on the history of the National College of Arts since the nineteenth century

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“An excellent work: the first comprehensive study of any of the major and influential schools of art and design (Lahore, Bombay, Kolkata) in South Asia from their colonial-era roots to the present day. This book undertakes a much-needed shift in focus towards the manner in which institutional dynamics and state practices have structured aesthetic thought and art practice alike. The reader will particularly appreciate how artistic concerns are linked to broader governmental concerns of socialization and economic behavior.”
-Arindam Dutta, author of The Bureaucracy of Beauty: Design in the Age of its Global Reproducibility (2007).

“The National College of Arts in Lahore, which began as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts in 1875, has a distinguished history. Nadeem Omar Tarar’s painstaking research on the institution will make an engaging contribution to the growing body of postcolonial literature on art education.”
-Partha Mitter, author of Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850–1922 (1994)

“In this valuable book, Tarar bridges that colonial-post-colonial divide that has so often defined institutional histories of the arts in South Asia, offering a richly detailed history of the Mayo School of Arts /National College of Arts. Offering a nuanced analysis of a rich array of archival sources, Tarar reveals the deep historical legacies structuring art education in the subcontinent, challenging the assumed binaries between art and craft, traditionalism and modernism, while also rooting the story of art education firmly at the intersection of regional, national and international politics.”
-Abigail McGowan. University of Vermont, US

Nadeem Omar Tarar is a historical anthropologist and works as Executive Director, Center for Culture and Development. Pakistan. Formerly, an Associate Professor and Head, Department of Cultural Studies. National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Tarar later served as Director, NCA, Rawalpindi. He is the founding member of Gandhara Resource Center Pakistan.

Publisher: Folio Books
Publishing date: December 2024
ISBN: 978-969-7834-71-6
Binding: Paperback
Rights: Pakistan
Availability: Pre-Order