Book

A fantastic state of ruin : the painted towns of Rajasthan

Zurick, David, author, photographer, Lambah, Abha Narain, writer of introduction, Charpentier, Câecile, writer of afterword

2018

Overview

This book tells the story of the painted towns of Shekhawati in rural Rajasthan, India. For centuries, the painted buildings served the towns as trading houses, pleasure palaces, temples, caravansaries, and private homes. Following independence, the descendants of the merchant families left Shekhawati for India's burgeoning cities, abandoning their opulent structures. Some were left in the charge of caretakers; squatters took up residence in many; most simply remain vacant. The buildings have slowly deteriorated over time, ravaged by climate and neglect, and now lie scattered among the desert settlements as an elegiac collection of beautiful living ruins--a crumbling open-air gallery set amid the ordinary affairs of small town life. This book portrays the fascinating ruinous beauty of the painted towns, and, along the way, provides an intimate look at life and landscape on the arid fringes of Rajasthan. This world, too, is fading, and so the book's photographs, in the end, are a visual study of both place and society at the edge of time.

• Publisher: Goff Books, an imprint of ORO Editions
• Subject: Mural painting and decoration India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Abandoned buildings India Shekhawati Pictorial works. / Abandoned buildings India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Vernacular architecture India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Color in architecture India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Color decoration and ornament India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Frescoes India Rajasthan Pictorial works. / Shekhawati (India) Buildings, structures, etc. Pictorial works. / Rajasthan (India) Buildings, structures, etc. Pictorial works.
• ISBN: 9781940743400, 1940743400

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Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
DS485.R24 Z87 2018	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE