Abstract

The appearance of a modernist aesthetic in Europe and America and the extensive discourses on the individual movements that followed, while contributing significantly to art historical discourses across the globe, does not take into account the vast differences in the social and political contexts of countries outside of Euramerica, especially Asia. Thus, the need to study the course of modernism in the Asian region independent from its western counterpart arises. When studied in comparison with each other, the individual regions of Asia bring to light coinciding histories—significantly different from the west, but simultaneously experienced in the east—and in doing so locate a common ground where Asian Modernism may be redefined. This article studies modernity in the visual art spheres of India and Indonesia in a parallel comparison between two key educational and cultural movements.