John Lockwood Kipling: Arts & Crafts in the Punjab and London

On view Through January 7, 2018

Curated by Susan Weber, Director, Bard Graduate Center, and

Julius Bryant, Keeper of Word & Image, Victoria and Albert Museum.

Organized by Bard Graduate Center Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

“In their analysis, Weber, Bryant and their colleagues have located and interpreted the diverse, the hybrid, the complex and the nearly forgotten”—Antiques and the Arts Weekly

John Lockwood Kipling: Arts & Crafts in the Punjab and London is the first exhibition to explore the life and work of John Lockwood Kipling (1837–1911), an artist, teacher, curator, and influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. He was also a social campaigner for the preservation and promotion of Indian crafts and a designer of architectural sculpture whose creations can be seen on buildings in London, Mumbai, and Lahore.

The exhibition focuses on Lockwood Kipling’s advocacy for and promotion of the arts and crafts of India through his work at art schools in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and Lahore, as well as his role as curator of the Lahore Museum, his journalism over 25 years in India, and his influence on his son, the writer and poet, Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), some of whose books he illustrated. Two-hundred and fifty objects—encompassing metalwork and furniture, drawings and paintings, illustrated books and architectural ornaments, as well as ceramics and relief sculpture from the V&A’s collections and lenders across Britain, the United States, and Pakistan—are on view.

John Lockwood Kipling: Arts & Crafts in the Punjab and London was on view at the V&A from January 14 through April 2, 2017. 

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is edited by Julius Bryant and Susan Weber, and published with Yale University Press. The first book to explore the full spectrum of Kipling’s achievements, John Lockwood Kipling: Arts & Crafts in the Punjab and London includes seventeen essays by leading scholars of nineteenth-century art, architecture, and design, demonstrating the significance of his work as an artist, teacher, administrator, and activist. Lavishly illustrated with 700 color images, including pieces featured in the exhibition, the book includes a chronology of Lockwood Kipling’s projects, an exhibition checklist, and an extensive bibliography. It is available in the Gallery and online at store.bgc.bard.edu.