Conference of Monica Juneja

The conceptual category of modernism, for long viewed as a quintessential European phenomenon which then “spread” to the rest of the world, has undergone critical scrutiny in recent years. Studies of modernism “from the peripheries” have questioned its monolithic nature and argued for an expanded definition that would include the artistic experiments of modernist artists in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This chapter looks at modernist art from a South Asian perspective to argue against both a diffusionist view as well as one which proposes “multiple” or "alternate" modernisms. Rather it looks at connected processes of translation and reconfiguration in local settings, cutting across the colonizer-colony divide and reaching out to pan-Asian movements.