Pratapaditya Pal correspondence, 1970-1998, bulk 1985-1995

Summary

Extent:

10.42 Linear Feet 25 document cases

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

[Description of item], Pratapaditya Pal Correspondence, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research Library, PAL.001.001.

Background

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Pratapaditya Pal was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh in 1935, and grew up in Calcutta. His early education included the North Point school of Darjeeling and St. Xaviers College of Kolkata. Dr. Pal completed a fine arts and history doctorate at the University of Calcutta in 1962 with an emphasis on the history of architecture in Nepal. In 1965 he earned a second doctorate in Nepalese sculpture and painting after receiving a Commonwealth Cambridge Scholarship. Dr. Pal, or 'Pratap', as called by his friends and correspondents, became Keeper of the Indian Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston in 1967. In 1969 Dr. Pal acted as a consultant for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on its recently acquired Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck collection under the directorship of Kenneth Donahue, and was hired the following year to head the newly created department of Indian and Islamic Art. Between 1970 and 1995, the museum expanded and subdivided the Oriental Art department. That department had been helmed by George Kuwayama since 1959, before the relocation of the museum from Exposition Park to the Wilshire Boulevard location in 1965. LACMA gradually redefined and developed the Far Eastern, South and Southeast Asian, West Asian, and Ancient and Islamic Art departments during Dr. Pal's twenty-five year career at LACMA.

Below are the names and tenure dates of curators that worked with Pal in related curatorial areas in context with Pal's own dates of service.

Missing Title

1959-1997

George Kuwayama - Far Eastern Art, Oriental Art

1967-1968

Dorothy Jeakins - Costume and Textiles

1967-1979

Rexford Stead - Ancient and Ethnic Art

1969-1978

Mary Hunt Kahlenberg - Costume and Textiles

1970-1995

Pratapaditya Pal - South and Southeast, Indian and Southeast Asian, West Asian, Indian and Islamic Art

1972-1979

Virginia Dofflemyer - Indian and Islamic Art

1973-1980

Catherine A.Glynn - Indian and Islamic Art

1981-1986

Robert Brown - South and Southeast Asian Art, Indian and Islamic Art

1981-1991

Sheila Canby - Indian and Southeast Asian Art, West Asian Art

1982-1989

Constantina Oldknow - Ancient and Islamic Art

1983

Nancy Thomas - Egyptian Art, Ancient and Islamic Art

1984-1986

Julia F. Andrews - Far Eastern Art

1984-1992

Thomas W. Lentz, Jr. - Ancient and Islamic Art

1985-2004

June T. Li - Chinese and Korean Art, Far Eastern Art

1986-1993

Janice Leoshko - Indian and Southeast Asian Art, West Asian Art

Not only was Dr. Pal curator of the evolving department(s) of Indian and Islamic Art, West Asian, Indian and Southeast Asian, South and Southeast Art, but he served as acting director for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art the year following the retirement of Kenneth Donahue in 1979. As the departments grew, so did the curators' work with art councils, such as the Far Eastern Art Council founded by George Kuwayama and active by 1972, and in the following decade, the Southern Asian Art Council. The relationships cultivated by Dr. Pal with museum trustees, foundations and donors helped to fund the expansion of the Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection. A noted teacher, lecturer, and scholar, Dr. Pratapaditya Pal has organized exhibitions, written books and catalogues, and has authored both scholarly and popular articles which have been published in many languages. His consultation helped inform the Norton Simon collection as well as building that of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from a few hundred works to several thousand. Dr. Pratapaditya Pal not only worked to provide access to art from India, Southeast Asia, Nepal and Tibet, but with exhibitions such as Light of Asia (1984) was able to express his interest in intercultural relationships and with The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art From India (1994) give voice to lesser-known communities, and attract the attention of the press.

Processing information:

Processing and finding aid creation funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation as a part of the initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. In 2011 LACMA intern Jeff Snapp, as a continuation of UCLA fieldwork under the supervision of Jonathan Furner, created a box list for the collection and rehoused the collection in acid free folders and boxes, creating this finding aid under the supervision of Project Archivist Jessica Gambling. In 2024, archivist Julia Han rehoused the collection from record cartons into acid-free document cases and renumbered the folders accordingly.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged alphabetically by correspondent or corresponding institution; materials within the folders are arranged in reverse chronological order. Miscellaneous items are in single letter files (or subsections of the alphabet using the second letter, such as "Sa-Sc", "Sd-Se" - which are chronological within the folder. Box 1 contents were not subdivided or labeled and folders were created in the original order. For these folders descriptive titles have been provided by the archivist in [brackets]. Folder titles in subsequent boxes were transcribed from the original folders. Folders were subdivided to a standard maximum to enhance legibility of titles and protect paper edges.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

This collection contains 10.42 linear feet (25 document cases) of correspondence files created by Dr. Pratapaditya Pal during his tenure at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1970 to his departure in 1995. The bulk of the correspondence is dated 1985-1995, but there are few letters and forms from as early as 1970, as well as some dated after his departure. Most of the correspondence consists of copies of facsimile transmittals and letter responses, often with the original correspondence attached. A few letters are handwritten and almost all are in English. The collection also includes photographs, photocopies of items and articles, invitations, and references to exhibitions but the bulk of those materials were filed separately. Correspondence includes questions and answers about specific works, potential purchases, travel information, speaking engagements, personal invitations, gift acknowledgements, loans, publication details, book and photograph requests, and remuneration issues as well as letters including personal messages. There are some drafts of articles, letters of reference, and lists of objects as well as clippings from newspapers and periodicals.

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment only through the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research Library. Telephone 323-857-6118 or email library@lacma.org.

Terms of access:

Contact the Balch Research Library at 323-856-6118 or library@lacma.org for information on publishing or reproducing materials included in these records. Permission will be granted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as the owner of the physical materials, and does not imply permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all necessary permissions from the copyright holder.

Preferred citation:

[Description of item], Pratapaditya Pal Correspondence, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research Library, PAL.001.001.

Location of this collection:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA Institutional Archives

5905 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90036, US

Contact:

(323) 857-6118

library@lacma.org

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