Regents of the University of California (UCLA)
"Museology and the Colony: The Case of India."
Research Team: Research team: Tapati Guha-Thakurta (University of Calcutta); Jyotindra Jain (Nehru University, New Delhi); Kajri Jain (independent scholar, California); Saloni Mathur (UCLA); Partha Mitter (University of Sussex); Kavita Singh (Nehru University, New Delhi); Savia Viegas (University of Mumbai).
$248,700 awarded March 2005

A seven-person team led by Saloni Mathur of UCLA and Kavita Singh of Nehru University received a Getty Collaborative Research Grant for their project, "Museology and the Colony: The Case of India." The project has taken the methodology of "new museology" as its basis to question the distinctive history of the museum outside the physical geography of Europe. The research group chose India as a case study for the investigation of the historiography of the museum and its sources in Victorian pedagogy in order to consider regional or vernacular practices in relation to those of the colonial or national museum. The team has conducted extensive fieldwork at over 75 sites in India and organized their research findings on a blog, which has encouraged sustained collaboration and facilitated the exchange of ideas between far-flung participants. The project has also been disseminated thus far through international joint talks and papers, and eventually this research will be presented in an international colloquium and form the basis on an edited scholarly volume. Grant funds are supporting partial salary replacement, travel, and research costs for the two project leaders, as well as expenses related to the colloquium and fieldwork.

University of Trier, Germany
"Feather/Art: Mexico and Europe, XIVth-XVIIth Centuries"
Research Team: Diana Fane, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York; Alessandra Russo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; and Gerhard Wolf, University of Trier, Germany.
$194,000 awarded May 2001

Three scholars received funding through a Collaborative Research Grant to the University of Trier for a cross-cultural study of Mexican pre-hispanic and colonial feather mosaics. The team brings together expertise in Pre-Columbian and colonial cultures, medieval and early modern Europe, and the cultural context of pre- and post-hispanic art in Mexico. Together they will explore "feather art" in European, Mexican, and U.S. collections with the goal of eventually developing an exhibition and publication on this little known art form. Of particular interest to the team are the cultural exchanges that occurred in the fourteenth- to seventeenth centuries. These exchanges resulted not only in native artists' use of European patterns, but also the appearance of "feather art works" in European collections, in early illustrated books, and European art. During the project, team members will also work with two Mexican artists whose work incorporates traditional feather art and with museum conservators to explore appropriate conservation methods for the fragile artworks. Grant funds are supporting partial salary replacement for team members, research assistance, and team-member travel to museum collections and libraries.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London
"The Domestic Interior in Italy, 1400-1600"
Research Team: Marta Ajmar, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Hugo Blake, University of London; Sandra Cavallo, University of London; Anna Contadini, University of London; Patricia Fortini Brown, Princeton University, New Jersey; Richard Goldthwaite, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Reino Liefkes, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Brenda Preyer, University of Texas at Austin; and Luke Syson, British Museum, London.
£169,000 awarded May 2002

With the help of a Getty grant, a team of nine university and museum scholars is undertaking a collaborative exhibition planning project for The Domestic Interior in Italy, 1400-1600, scheduled to open at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2006. The team includes American, British, and Italian scholars and represents a wide range of interests in the art, architecture, and culture of Renaissance Italy. The Victoria and Albert's wide-ranging collections of Renaissance sculpture, ceramic, glass, metalwork, and textiles—as well as Renaissance paintings, prints, early books, and furniture from other collections—is providing the focus for both their research and the exhibit. Their work is exploring the ways in which these objects reflect the period's unprecedented artistic, cultural, and socio-economic changes, as well as the concurrent reconfiguring of interior spaces. Periodic team meetings will be complemented by a series of related public symposia that will open their research for broader dialogue. The project will also help shape the Museum's reinstallation and reinterpretation of its Renaissance galleries, scheduled to coincide with the grant-funded project. Grant funds are being used for partial salary replacement for the team members, research-related travel, photography, and team meetings over a two-year period.

See a complete listing of grants awarded.