Pratapaditya Pal

Pratapaditya Pal

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Category: History , Art

Pratapaditya Pal Profile

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  • Pratapaditya Pal

Pratapaditya Pal Biography

Pratapaditya Pal is an art curator, art historian and scholar of Southeast Asian and Himalayan art and culture. He has conducted numerous research works on the history of art of India, Nepal and Tibet. As an art curator of South Asian art, he has been associated with US museums including Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, organizing more than 22 major art exhibitions. For his overall contributions towards the field of Indian art and culture, government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2009. He has authored over 60 books and catalogs, apart from more than 250 articles on the subject of arts. He is also a renowned professor who taught at different universities.

 

Pratapaditya Pal was born in Bangladesh during British rule. His early schooling was done in Darjeeling and Kolkata, and he graduated from University of Calcutta. Initially he wanted to specialize in anthropology for post-graduation. But as the university didn’t offer the subject then, he was forced to choose another subject and thus he studied ancient Indian history and culture. This decision proved to be right and later Pal went on to become a leading art patron, historian, writer and curator. He later completed a PhD in the history of Nepali architecture in 1962 from University of Calcutta, followed by his second PhD in Nepali sculpture and painting.

 

Despite earning so many degrees, he found it difficult to get a teaching job of his preference and hence he moved to US. As a curator his profession started while in US. Initially he became the curator of the Indian art collection at Boston Museum, as a successor to Ananda Coomaraswamy. Two years later he moved to Los Angeles County Museum of Art. After that he continued with his research works, published them and also taught numerous students.

Published: January 28, 2019

Updated: January 28, 2019

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