Unmaking the East India Company: British Art and Political Reform in Colonial India, c. 1813-1858

This book explores how art shaped the nationalization of the East India Company between 1813 and 1858, challenging the idea that parliament drove political reform. It argues that new artistic forms and practices in colonial India reconfigured the colonial regimes racial boundaries and techniques of governance, eroding aristocratic corporate cultures and integrating middle-class societies with new political convictions and moral disciplines.

Format: Hardback
Length: 255 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2023
Publisher: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

This groundbreaking book delves into the intricate relationship between art and the nationalization of the East India Company, shedding light on a pivotal period in British history. It challenges the conventional notion that parliamentary reform drove the Company's political transformation, instead suggesting that it was destabilized by novel modes of artistic production in colonial India. Through the examination of new artistic forms and practices, such as lithography, steam navigation, middle-class print formats like periodicals, scrapbooks, and literary annuals, as well as the prevalence of amateur sketching among Company employees, the book reveals how these innovations reconfigured the colonial regimes racial boundaries and governance techniques. These artistic expressions thrived within transimperial networks, integrating middle-class societies with new political convictions and moral disciplines, ultimately eroding the aristocratic corporate cultures that had previously shaped colonial authority in India.

Unmaking the East India Company: Art and the Nationalization of the East India Company is a significant contribution to our understanding of British art as a global, corporate, and inherently imperial phenomenon. By highlighting the role of overlooked media, artistic styles, and print formats in shaping power and identity, the book offers a fresh perspective on the complexities of Britishness and its global impact. This book is distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, further enhancing its significance and accessibility to scholars and enthusiasts alike.

Weight: 1272g
Dimension: 227 x 279 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781913107390