Pahari Paintings Art and Stories

Sonya Rhie Mace (editor), Sarang Sharma (editor), Vijay Sarang (editor), Catherine Glynn Benkaim (contributions), Ainsley M. Cameron (contributions), Debra Diamond (contributions), Sonya Rhie Mace (contributions), Vrinda Agrawal (contributions)

Hardback (10 Mar 2026)

$68.36

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Publisher's Synopsis

An in-depth study of the innovation and range of Pahari painting that draws from one of the greatest collections ever assembled

Artists in the Pahari kingdoms of India's northwest Himalayas produced paintings for religious and courtly purposes from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century. Exhibiting vibrant color and containing distinctive cultural and historical content, these works have long attracted collectors from around the world. This lavishly illustrated volume focuses on a singularly brilliant collection-now split among the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, and the Cincinnati Art Museum-assembled from the 1960s to the early 2000s by Catherine Glynn Benkaim, a Pahari paintings scholar, and her husband. Foregrounding recent research and fieldwork, scholars show how intervalley mobility and an ancestral village-based artist culture can explain the surprising range of styles seen in paintings from this dramatic, mountainous region. Essays move beyond problematic court attributions and identifications of Mughal influence to reposition the agency of artists and patrons working in collaboration across boundaries of Pahari kingdoms at the forefront of artistic praxis. Many of these paintings are published here for the first time, along with discussions of their more recent histories, full translations of inscriptions, and the collector's personal comments on the collecting of Pahari paintings.

Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Cleveland Museum of Art
(April 12-August 9, 2026)

National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC
(April 11-August 19, 2026)

Cincinnati Art Museum
(February 6-June 7, 2026)

About the Publisher

The Cleveland Museum of Art

By publishing serious works that contribute to a global understanding of human affairs, Yale University Press aids in the discovery and dissemination of light and truth, lux et veritas, which is a central purpose of Yale University. The publications of the Press are books and other materials that further scholarly investigation, advance interdisciplinary inquiry, stimulate public debate, educate both within and outside the classroom, and enhance cultural life. In its commitment to increasing the range and vigor of intellectual pursuits within the university and elsewhere, Yale University Press continually extends its horizons to embody university publishing at its best.