The San Diego Museum of Art Debuts Its Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of South Asian Paintings in Madrid, Spain

San Diego, Calif.- On Monday, February 27 The San Diego Museum of Art will premiere 106 works of art from its Edwin Binney 3^rd Collection in an exhibition titled Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art in Madrid, Spain.

Roxana Velásquez, Executive Director for The San Diego Museum of Art, will accompany the world-renowned works of art to Spain, sharing these works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection with an international art audience.

“It is an honor to lend works from our permanent collection to a major international art institution such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art in Madrid, Spain – a museum best known for displaying magnificent art from around the world. Equally as exciting is that The San Diego Museum of Art is the institution bringing an exhibition of Indian paintings to Spain for the first time,” says Velásquez.

Encompassing works dating from the 12th to 19th centuries, the exhibition explores the range of paintings made for rulers and merchants in India who were culturally rooted in Persian, Central Asian, and European traditions. Having come to India and settled there for prolonged periods, they commissioned paintings by local Indian artists who adapted their styles and practices to accommodate the wishes of their new patrons.

Through this presentation of 106 works of art and its accompanying catalogue and feature film, visitors will understand the extraordinary abilities of Indian artists to adapt to foreign models while maintaining an essential quality in their work that remains unmistakably Indian. Curated by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, Curator of Asian Art at The San Diego Museum of Art, Into India has been drawn largely from the thematic displays on view at the Museum between 2004 and 2009. Quintanilla is also the author of the 247-page full-color catalogue in Spanish, Visiones de India, which will be accompanied by an English text.

Focused exhibitions of works from the Binney Collection previously have been on display in the United States, China, France, Switzerland, and Canada; this will be its first stop in Spain. Individual works from this collection have been lent as objects in exhibitions in many prestigious institutions around the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Musée Guimet, Paris.

Museum Information:

The San Diego Museum of Art is located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif., 92101. General Information, (619) 232-7931, Group Sales: (619) 696-1935, Website: http://www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt.org, Twitter: @SDMA, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt

The San Diego Museum of Art provides a rich and diverse cultural experience for 350,000 visitors annually. Located in the heart of beautiful Balboa Park, the Museum’s nationally renowned collections include Spanish and Italian old masters, South Asian paintings, and 19th and 20th century American paintings and sculptures. The Museum regularly features major exhibitions of art from around the world, as well as an extensive year-round schedule supporting cultural and educational programs for children and adults. At The San Diego Museum of Art, exhibition text is always in English and Spanish.

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