Arrangement
Scope and Content of Collection
Processing History
Preferred Citation
Access
Acquisition Information
Biographical/Historical Note
Publication Rights
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Harald Ingholt papers relating to Gandharan art
Creator:
Mahar, James Michael
Creator:
Ingholt, Harald, 1896-1985
Identifier/Call Number: 990054
Physical Description:
5.8 Linear Feet
(14 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1897-1985 (bulk 1954-1978)
Date (bulk): 1954-1978
Abstract: The Harald Ingholt papers relating to Gandharan art document one aspect of this Near Eastern archaeologist's broad research
interests. The archive contains production materials, such as a text draft and page layouts, related to
Gandhāran Art in Pakistan, for which Ingholt wrote the text, as well as Inholt's related research materials on Gandharan art. These materials include
hundreds of black-and-white photographs, notes, correspondence, offprints and ephemera. Further material relating to Gandharan
art was added to the archive by James Michael Mahar.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged in three series:
Gandhāran Art in Pakistan production materials, circa 1954-1959;
Series II. Research materials on Gandharan art, 1897-1978, undated;
Series III. James Michael Mahar papers, 1953-1985, undated.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Harald Ingholt papers relating to Gandharan art document one aspect of this Near Eastern archaeologist's broad research
interests. Taking its name from the ancient region of Gandhara, which encompassed parts of what are today Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Gandharan art is best known for its stone sculptures which blend Buddhist themes with Classical stylistic elements. Alexander
the Great's occupation of this area in the fourth century B.C. was brief, but it introduced a strain of Classical culture
which hung on tenaciously. Reinforced first by a series of rulers who were culturally influenced by the west and then by the
area's location on a thriving trade route, this Mediterranean artistic strain survived as an undercurrent for centuries, before
re-emerging strongly in Gandharan art of the Kushan Empire during the first to third centuries A.D.
Publication materials for
Gandhāran art in Pakistan form the first series of the archive. Included here are a draft of the text and various phases of plate production for the
project, which joined Ingholt's text to photographs by Islay Lyons. Series II is comprised of Ingholt's general research materials
on Gandharan art, primarily Gandharan sculpture. The bulk of the material is photographic, with limited additions of notes,
letters received, offprints and ephemera.
A small portion of the material in this archive did not originate with Ingholt, but with James Michael Mahar, who held the
archive from circa 1980 to 2009. Most of this material can be clearly identified as Mahar's and forms Series III. Although
it ranges from notes taken in a graduate school class in Eastern art to more recent ephemera, the bulk of the Mahar material
relates to
The Meeting of East and West -- An Exhibition of Gandharan Buddhist Art, held at the University of Arizona in 1977. There is also, however, a scattering of material incorporated into the first
two series, which may have been added by Mahar. These materials, such as the summary of the production materials in Series
I, are distinctive because they are not in Ingholt's handwriting.
Processing History
This collection was initially processed and cataloged by Milena Golshan in 2012 under the supervision of Ann Harrison. In
2013, information received from the donor led to a substantial revision of the finding aid.
Preferred Citation
Harald Ingholt papers relating to Gandharan art, 1897-1985 (bulk 1954-1978), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, accession
no. 990054
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa990054
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Acquisition Information
Gift of James Michael Mahar. Acquired by the Getty Research Institute in 1999. In 1979 the University of Arizona acquired
the library of Harold Ingholt. After the books were cataloged, this small body of archival material was determined by the
acquisitions librarian to be out of scope and passed on to Professor Mahar in the Near Eastern Studies Department.
Biographical/Historical Note
Harald Ingholt (1896-1985) studied theology as an undergraduate at the University of Copenhagen, from which he also received
his Dr. Phil. in archaeology in 1928 for his work on the sculpture of Palmyra. His first professional position was as an assistant
curator at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1925-1930), and for part of his tenure he served concurrently as the secretary of the
Carlsbergfondet (1927-1930).
In 1931 Ingholt took up a new teaching post in archaeology at the American University of Beirut, as well as becoming curator
of the university's museum collections. When this position ended in 1937, Ingholt returned to Denmark and taught Hebrew and
the Old Testament at Aarhus University from 1938 to 1941. Ingholt then moved to the United States where he had spent time
as a student studying archaeology at Princeton in 1922. Ingholt joined the Yale University faculty in 1942 as a lecturer and
advanced through the academic ranks until his retirement as a Professor in 1964, holding positions in Classics, Biblical Exegesis
and Archaeology.
Ingholt's curatorial activities also continued at Yale. In 1954, he was involved with the Yale University Art Gallery exhibition,
Palmyrene and Gandharan Sculpture. Ingholt appears to have been led east into the realm of Gandharan art through the element of Parthian influence, his previous
research and publications having traced this element in the sculpture of Palmyra and Hatra. Shortly after this exhibition
Ingholt was approached to write the text accompanying a group of photographs by Islay Lyons, the project which became
Gandhāran Art in Pakistan. Although the book represents Ingholt's main contribution to the study of Gandharan art, he appears to have continued researching
the topic after its publication.
In addition to his curatorial and teaching duties, Ingholt excavated at sites in the Near East including Palmyra (1924, 1925,
1928) and at Hama (1932-1938) where he led the Danish excavations. As well as producing his own numerous publications, Ingholt
took an active editorial role in his field. He founded the journal
Berytus: Archaeological Studies in 1934, and in the early 1970s oversaw Yale's publication of the excavations at Dura Europas.
Publication Rights
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographic prints
Sculpture, Gandhara
Art, Gandhara
Buddhist art -- Gandhara (Pakistan and Afghanistan)