MODERN INDIAN ART HISTORY: CONTINUITY OR CHANGE OF TENDENCIES?

This article deals with some current tendencies in modern Indian Art Studies, which has gone a long way through the copying of European opinions, reevaluation of values, search for an appropriate methodology, confrontation of scientists, and it has not been finished yet. During the last two decades leading Indian specialists have been actively insisting on changing of the course and taking stock of 19th - first half of 20th centuries' legacy. The author examines the history of some beliefs and approaches, both very steady and criticized for bias and misconceptions. Article also studies new methods and judgments of last two decades, which are intended to reform the whole methodological basis of Indian Art History on one hand, and continuity of some old approaches on the other. As a result, one can state a trend towards renovation concurrently with conservation of traditions. Refs 19. Figs 4.