William George Archer | |
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Born | 1 February 1907 |
Died | 6 March 1979 72) | (aged
Education | School of Oriental Studies |
Occupations |
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Employers |
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Television | Monitor |
Spouse | Mildred Agnes Bell |
William George Archer, OBE (1907-1979) was a British civil servant and art historian, and later museum curator.
Archer was born on 1 February 1907, [1] and studied first history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, [2] and then Hindi, Indian history and law at the School of Oriental Studies in London. [3] He subsequently served in the Indian Civil Service, in Bihar, from 1931 until around 1947, when India gained independence. [4] His roles included District Magistrate and Superintendent of the Census.He ordered to shoot 7 unarmed students who were trying to put the Indian flag on Patna secretariat during Quit India movement. [1] He was also Additional Deputy Commissioner in the Naga Hills from 1946 to 1948. [1] While in India, he developed a love and knowledge of Indian culture, including poetry and art, [4] and of the Santal people. [1] In the summer of 1934, while home from India on sick leave, he married the sister of one of his friends, Mildred Agnes Bell, who returned to India with him (she later worked as curator of prints and drawings at the India Office). [3] The couple, who had two children while in India, shared socialist politics and a belief that India should be granted independence. [1] [3]
After the family's return to England, they lived on Provost Road, north of London's Primrose Hill, [3] and Archer served as Keeper of the Indian Section, at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1949-1959, [4] and afterwards Keeper Emeritus. [2]
In the 1950s and 60s, he presented arts programmes on BBC Television, as part of the series Monitor . [5] [6] He was a champion of the Indian artist Avinash Chandra. [4]
Archer was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1948 New Year Honours, [7] and was awarded honorary doctorates by Panjab University in 1968 and Guru Nanak Dev University in 1976. [2] In 1978, he received the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland's Burton Memorial Medal. [2]
He died on 6 March 1979. [1]
His papers, together with those of his wife, are held by the British Library. [8]
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It is the 15th largest state by area, and the 14th largest by population. Hindi is the official language of the state. The city of Ranchi is its capital and Dumka its sub-capital. The state is known for its waterfalls, hills and holy places; Baidyanath Dham, Parasnath, Dewri and Rajrappa are major religious sites. Jharkhand is primarily rural, with about 24% of its population living in cities.
The Santal are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar, Assam and Tripura. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They have a sizeable population in Nepal. The Santals speak Santali, the most widely spoken Munda languages of Austroasiatic language family.
Indian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indian art. The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of prehistoric times, such as the petroglyphs found in places like the Bhimbetka rock shelters. Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately 10,000 years old. Because of the climatic conditions in the Indian subcontinent, very few early examples survive today.
Kalighat painting, Kalighat Patachitra, or Kalighat Pat is a style of Indian paintings which originated in the 19th century. It was first practiced by a group of specialized scroll painters known as the patuas in the vicinity of the Kalighat Kali Temple in Kolkata, in the present Indian state of West Bengal. Composed of bold outlines, vibrant colour tones, and minimal background details, these paintings and drawings were done on both hand-made and machine manufactured paper. The paintings depicted mythological stories, figures of Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as scenes from everyday life and society, thereby recording a socio-cultural landscape which was undergoing a series of transitions during the 19th and early 20th century, when the Kalighat pat reached its pinnacle.
Kalighat is a locality of Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in South Kolkata, Kalighat is also densely populated — with a history of cultural intermingling with the various foreign incursions into the area over time.
Nandalal Bose was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.
Mildred Archer OBE was an English art historian who specialized in 18th- and 19th-century art in British India. She was curator of Prints and Drawings at the India Office Library and wrote extensively on the collection and studies on them.
Rao Bahadur and Rai Bahadur, abbreviatedR.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the Empire. From 1911, the title was accompanied by a medal called a Title Badge. Translated, Rao means "King", and Bahadur means "Brave". Bestowed mainly on Hindus, the equivalent title for Muslim and Parsi subjects was Khan Bahadur. For Sikhs it was Sardar Bahadur.
Colonel James Skinner was an Anglo-Indian military adventurer and soldier of the East India Company of British India. Prior to this he also served briefly as a mercenary in the Maratha Army. He became known as Sikandar Sahib later in life and is most known for two cavalry regiments he raised for the British at Hansi in 1803, known as 1st Skinner's Horse and 3rd Skinner's Horse, which are still units of the Indian Army.
Romesh Chunder Dutt was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata. He was one of the prominent proponents of Indian economic nationalism.
Company style, also known as Company painting is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in British India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. The style blended traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting with a more Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession. Most paintings were small, reflecting the Indian miniature tradition, but the natural history paintings of plants and birds were usually life size.
Patna School of Painting is a style of Indian painting which existed in Bihar, India in the 18th and 19th centuries. Patna Qalaam was the world's first independent school of painting which dealt exclusively with the commoner and their lifestyle, which also helped Patna Kalam paintings gain in popularity. The principal centers of this style were in Patna, Danapur and Arrah.
Sir Charles D'Oyly, 7th Baronet (1781–1845), was a British public official and painter from Dacca. He was a member of the Bengal Civil Service based in Calcutta, Dacca and Patna from 1797 to 1838. Although he held senior positions with the East India Company's civil service, he is best known as an amateur artist who published many books featuring engravings and lithographs featuring Indian subject matter.
The Mal Paharia people are a people of India, mainly living in the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. They are the original inhabitants of the Rajmahal Hills, known today as the Santal Parganas division of Jharkhand. They are listed as a Scheduled Tribe by the governments of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. They speak the Malto language, a Dravidian language, as well as a poorly-documented Indo-Aryan Mal Paharia language.
Below is given a chronological record of tribal and peasant revolts in India before independence from British rule in the 1947. The list covers those tribal uprisings that occurred during the period of British rule in India.
Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province and adding parts of Madras Presidency and Central Provinces. Its territory corresponds with the modern-day State of Odisha.
The 1931 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1930.
Brijinder Nath Goswamy was an Indian art critic, art historian, and vice chairman of the Sarabhai Foundation of Ahmedabad, which runs the Calico Museum of Textiles. Goswamy was best known for his scholarship on Pahari painting and Indian miniature paintings. He was the author of over 20 books on arts and culture, including Sakti Burman: A Private Universe, a monograph on the life and works of Sakti Burman, renowned Bengali painter and Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1900, a treatise on Indian miniature art. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 1998 and followed it up with the third highest honour of the Padma Bhushan in 2008.
Murmu is a surname indicating a particular clan (paris) of the Santals found in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Avinash Chandra was an Indian painter, who lived and worked in the United Kingdom.