This volume compiles in a succinct and visually compelling way a lasting record of the remarkable collection of Punjabi artworks and historical memorabilia representing the cultural history of the Punjab, assembled by Dr. Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja and his family. Dr. Khanuja has added here his personal perspectives on the historical importance ...and the meaningfulness of these objects, through essays accompanying the images and captions compiled in each of the chapters. The range of the collection is vast, reflecting the depth and variety of Punjabi artistic achievements ? collectively forming a book of value to many fields.
The sourcebook of Punjabi history and art that we present here, drawn from the Khanuja Family Collection, is a unique and significant compilation that will be useful to scholars in many fields. It is beautifully illustrated, systematic, and replete with detailed information about each of the objects ? yet not at all like a typical museum catalog of a public or private collection. It is ?systematic? in its careful illustration and identification of the objects, primarily giving voice to the honest and inspiring views of the collector, allowing readers to join the Khanuja family in their enthusiastic retracing of Punjabi cultural history and the Sikh ethos through the tour they provide of objects in their collection.
Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, a medical oncologist, was born in Muzaffarnagar (India) and received
his education and medical training in India and in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American
College of Physicians and he has lived for the last thirty years in Phoenix, Arizona, where he founded
the Ironwood Cancer Centers in 1993. Besides practicing medicine, he is involved with multiple
nonprofit organizations and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Phoenix Art Museum, where
he contributed to the creation of a permanent Sikh art gallery. He believes that, although life is a
transitory and ever-changing process, history needs to be preserved. He has been collecting Punjabrelated
art for nearly fifteen years with the goal of preserving it for the future generations.
Paul Michael Taylor, a research anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution since 1981, is Curator for Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology Department, and he serves as Director of the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA and Ph.D. from Yale University, both in Anthropology; and is an author or editor of numerous books and scholarly articles on the ethnography, ethnobiology, languages, and art (or material culture) of Asia. These include Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands, Fragile Traditions: Indonesian Art in Jeopardy, Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection, and Artists of Modern Kazakhstan. Many of his publications are available at: https://si.academia.edu/PaulMichaelTaylor. He also served as curator of many museum exhibitions.
Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, a medical oncologist, was born in Muzaffarnagar (India) and received
his education and medical training in India and in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American
College of Physicians and he has lived for the last thirty years in Phoenix, Arizona, where he founded
the Ironwood Cancer Centers in 1993. Besides practicing medicine, he is involved with multiple
nonprofit organizations and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Phoenix Art Museum, where
he contributed to the creation of a permanent Sikh art gallery. He believes that, although life is a
transitory and ever-changing process, history needs to be preserved. He has been collecting Punjabrelated
art for nearly fifteen years with the goal of preserving it for the future generations.
Paul Michael Taylor, a research anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution since 1981, is Curator for Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology Department, and he serves as Director of the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA and Ph.D. from Yale University, both in Anthropology; and is an author or editor of numerous books and scholarly articles on the ethnography, ethnobiology, languages, and art (or material culture) of Asia. These include Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands, Fragile Traditions: Indonesian Art in Jeopardy, Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection, and Artists of Modern Kazakhstan. Many of his publications are available at: https://si.academia.edu/PaulMichaelTaylor. He also served as curator of many museum exhibitions.
Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, a medical oncologist, was born in Muzaffarnagar (India) and received
his education and medical training in India and in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American
College of Physicians and he has lived for the last thirty years in Phoenix, Arizona, where he founded
the Ironwood Cancer Centers in 1993. Besides practicing medicine, he is involved with multiple
nonprofit organizations and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Phoenix Art Museum, where
he contributed to the creation of a permanent Sikh art gallery. He believes that, although life is a
transitory and ever-changing process, history needs to be preserved. He has been collecting Punjabrelated
art for nearly fifteen years with the goal of preserving it for the future generations.
Paul Michael Taylor, a research anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution since 1981, is Curator for Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology Department, and he serves as Director of the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA and Ph.D. from Yale University, both in Anthropology; and is an author or editor of numerous books and scholarly articles on the ethnography, ethnobiology, languages, and art (or material culture) of Asia. These include Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands, Fragile Traditions: Indonesian Art in Jeopardy, Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection, and Artists of Modern Kazakhstan. Many of his publications are available at: https://si.academia.edu/PaulMichaelTaylor. He also served as curator of many museum exhibitions.
Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, a medical oncologist, was born in Muzaffarnagar (India) and received
his education and medical training in India and in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American
College of Physicians and he has lived for the last thirty years in Phoenix, Arizona, where he founded
the Ironwood Cancer Centers in 1993. Besides practicing medicine, he is involved with multiple
nonprofit organizations and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Phoenix Art Museum, where
he contributed to the creation of a permanent Sikh art gallery. He believes that, although life is a
transitory and ever-changing process, history needs to be preserved. He has been collecting Punjabrelated
art for nearly fifteen years with the goal of preserving it for the future generations.
Paul Michael Taylor, a research anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution since 1981, is Curator for Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology Department, and he serves as Director of the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA and Ph.D. from Yale University, both in Anthropology; and is an author or editor of numerous books and scholarly articles on the ethnography, ethnobiology, languages, and art (or material culture) of Asia. These include Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands, Fragile Traditions: Indonesian Art in Jeopardy, Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection, and Artists of Modern Kazakhstan. Many of his publications are available at: https://si.academia.edu/PaulMichaelTaylor. He also served as curator of many museum exhibitions.
ISBN
9789392130168
Binding
Hardback
Page Extent
432
Weight (kg)
3.4
Height (in)
10
Width (in)
8.03
Subject
Art
Published Date
20/04/22
Publisher
Roli Books
Reviews
Open Magazine
Published Date:- October 28, 2022
THE BOOK, SPLENDORS of Punjab Heritage, is by all standards an extraordinary journey into the past of the Sikh community aided by art and artefacts, which define the history of the Sikhs collected by the family of Dr Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, an oncologist who has been living in Phoenix Arizona, US for the last 30 years.
There is now a permanent Sikh Art gallery at the Phoenix Art Museum devoted to highlighting the contribution of the people who call themselves Sikhs, adherents of Sikhism in all its manifold variety. The volume under review acts almost like a catalogue for a portion of the exhibits, while also channelling the spiritual dimension of Sikhism as propagated by its revered teachers known as the ten gurus, or Sants and finally enshrined in its sacred book, known as the Guru Granth Sahib.
Read more....
The Federal
Published Date:- September 12, 2022
Read an exclusive excerpt from Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja’s 'SplendorsOf Punjab Heritage: Art From The Khanuja Family Collection', whichrecounts how the establishment of a stable and prosperous state in thenorthwest Indian subcontinent by a native of the soil was a trulyremarkable achievement, considering the consistent upheavals and theover 1,000 years of alien rule that this region had experienced.
If a resounding rebuff were needed to that old saw that the only culture Punjabis know is agriculture, this book is extravagant proof. Produced in association with the Smithsonian’s Asian cultural history programme, it is a lavishly photographed and designed volume of Sikh art—miniatures, weaponry, coins, textiles, photographs and contemporary paintings among other memorabilia—that is the single-handed collection of one individual. Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, an India-born oncologist who set up a flourishing practice in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1993, pursued his “expensive passion” over 15 years as a form of seva (public service), a founding tenet of his faith. His impressive hoard now has a permanent home in the Phoenix Art Museum and, from 2017, is shown in themed exhibitions such as Virtue and Valour, Warriors of World War I and The Golden Temple.
A collection of artworks and historical memorabilia representing the cultural history of Punjab, ‘Splendors of Punjab Heritage’ is a delight to hold in your hands. Drawing on possessions with the US-based Khanuja family, it is rich in images — illustrations, photographs, maps, manuscripts — as also information on Sikhism, from which it draws its content.