An Indian Encounter: Portraits for Queen Victoria by Rudolf Swoboda

This small exhibition of paintings by the Austrian painter Rudolf Swoboda (1859-1914) breaks new ground for the National Gallery. The portraits were made for Queen Victoria, and this is the first time they have been seen outside the Durbar Corridor of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight for over a century. Swoboda was initially commissioned by the Queen to paint some of the Indian artisans brought to London for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886. Following this, Victoria requested that the artist travel to India and make sketches of 'the various types of the different nationalities'. These small sketches are the main subject of this exhibition: freshly painted, carefully observed studies of men, women and children of different tribes and castes, given a degree of individuality that is rare in such imagery. The peoples of India were obsessively recorded in painting and photography at this time, but Swoboda's project is different from the ethnographic concerns of most visiting European recorders: Swoboda caught the depth of an expression, the play of light on a shoulder, the pride of a tribesman; he captured the variety and individuality of the people. Swoboda's introduction to many of his sitters may have come through Lockwood Kipling, Director of the Mayo School of Art in Lahore and the father of Rudyard. Swoboda probably met Rudyard on one of his trips, and a drawing by him in the Kipling Archieves in the University of Sussex appears to show the young writer. Kipling perhaps refers to Swoboda when he writes of the insatiable curiosity and desire to know everything about India of a pair of Austrian artists visiting his father, in any case he reminds us of the hold that India had on European visitors. A European's view of India, painted for the Empress of India - who never visited the country herself - this is the compelling and varied subject matter of this exhibition. Through the eyes of an Austrian painter we are given an insight into the diversity of what was then British India and the Princely States, some of which is now Pakistan, and through the works we get a sense of Swoboda's fascination with, and genuine affection for, its varied peoples. We are very grateful to Her Majesty the Queen for making this display possible and to English Heritage for their support. Both the exhibition and this accompanying publication are made possible by the generous support, once again, of Oce, and we thank them for their enthusiasm and commitment to the National Gallery.

Table of Contents:
THEMATIC OUTLINE: - Introduction - Brief biographical account of Rudolph Swoboda, acknowledging his marginality in the art historical canon and the lack of biographical information about him - Account of the backdrop of late Victorian images celebrating India's social life (popular, anthropological, princely, etc.) in relation to Swoboda's paintings - Discussion of the related historical contexts of the Durbar Hall at Osborne House and the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886, both significant - like Swoboda's paintings - for shaping an Anglo-Indian aesthetic "at home" - Interpretation and discussion of specific Swoboda paintings: representations, themes, inclusions, and exclusions (with particular attention to "A Peep at the Train") - Assessment of this legacy of images in the postcolonial context - Conclusion