Self-Portrait: Writings and Interviews

ANANDA K COOMARASWAMY
The Indian Craftsman

Closely associated with the Tagore family of Jorasanko and the Swadeshi movement of Bengal, this eminent art-historian of the early twentieth century did not discriminate the art of the rural folk with the great religious arts of the rich and urban people. He saw it as conscientious expression of both the artisans as well as the civilization that nurtured it. Creativity of an ordinary earthen pot was equally valuable to him as with that of a gigantic temple. This is a rare and important book by Coomaraswamy who is regarded as the successor of Blake, Ruskin and William Morris in aesthetic point of view.