Identical sculptures of Robert Clive by John Tweed, early 20th Century. One is beside the old India Office in London and the other is in the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. A century later, how are they viewed? (1/2)
Dr Jennifer Howes
@jhowesuk.bsky.social
Art Historian looking for dirt on Britain’s imperial past in museums & archives. Author of “The Art of a Corporation: The East India Company as Patron and Collector". Wife, mother, pug owner. www.jenniferhowes.com
Publication day for my article on contested statues of Robert Clive in London & Calcutta, Co-written with Jayanta Sengupta. This pic shows a plywood mock-up of the London statue, 1916. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/contested...
It's the summer of tittering, it would seem—and we know who 'titterers' are: people who take blood sports seriously, because they don't take anyone's life seriously enough willself1.substack.com/p/2089334077...
Jason Arday: J'Accuse the British Media
After the death of Jason Arday, Will Self asks what happens when the media machine mistakes what interests the public for the public interest.
willself1.substack.com
I’ve been awarded the London Topographical Society’s Ann Saunders Essay Prize for 2026. My essay on London’s East India House will be published by them next year. Here’s a picture from the essay, showing Charles Fox carrying East India House on his shoulders. londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann...
Robert Clive meeting Jeff Bezos. Doesn’t Clive look handy! What would you call that deformed third set of digits? A clawed hand or a CLAUDE hand? @empirepoduk.bsky.social
Please tell me about your favourite imperialist artwork/monument in London
The importance of understanding colonial history… “Due to limitations in our professional knowledge, we were unable to identify potential controversies” www.ft.com/content/8243...
Lululemon apologises after Japanese drum controversy at Great Wall yoga event
Canadian athleisure company says it ‘should have been more cautious and thorough’
ft.com
Churchill deliberately starved Indians, says National Portrait Gallery www.thetimes.com/article/5957...
Churchill deliberately starved Indians, says National Portrait Gallery
A 40-minute video installation by Helen Cammock criticises a number of British historical figures including the former prime minister
thetimes.com
JUST PUBLISHED! Special issue of the South Asian Studies (Vol.42.1) on "South Asian Collections in European Museums", edited by myself and Dr Shreya Gupta of the V&A. There's some amazing stuff in here. Have a look. www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsas20/4...
Unique, fully funded opportunity for archivists and library professionals from South & Southeast Asia. Deadline: 13 June 2026. drive.google.com/file/d/1a3mV...
Regional Course 2026_Announcement_EN.docx.pdf
drive.google.com
Welcome to Ammachi Universe! This guy makes videos of his gran in Kerala being helped by Marvel superheroes. I approve of this use of AI. youtu.be/nSYRY6jyaXI
Welcome To Ammachi Universe | Full Part |
YouTube video by SAAppAi
youtu.be
Leiden University has agreed to return this remarkable Chola copper plate manuscript to India. It was taken in the 17th Century by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2026...
Over 2000 Jain manuscripts in Wellcome Trust’s London archives are being returned to India www.thetimes.com/article/7fa1...
Wellcome Trust returns ancient Jain texts in colonialist’s archive
The collection has agreed to transfer 2,000 sacred manuscripts, which were under-sold by a temple in Punjab to a British pharmaceutical entrepreneur
thetimes.com
Clive statue (John Tweed, 1912) and Man Blinded by Flag & Walking off Plinth (Banksy, 2026) are a short walk away from each other, in the most potent, sculpture-studded part of London.
Wicked positioning! At the opposite end of Horse Guards Road is the Clive statue in front of the UK Foreign Office www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Banksy confirms he is behind new statue in central London
The sculpture in central London of a man walking off a plinth while holding a flag has been drawing crowds.
bbc.co.uk
But we're still not posting our new Open Access requirements on our website (last update 24 May 2023: www.ukri.org/publications... ). For those, you'll need to be on LinkedIn. Open, innit? Not having a go at hard-pressed UKRI staff, but as open access strategy, this is both dire and unacceptable.
UK Research and Innovation@ukri.org · 4mo agoWe are launching a new R&I Challenge to improve home learning environments and help more children thrive at school. The challenge will support parents and carers, improve home learning environments for children in temporary accommodation, and help more families benefit from what works. Read more ⬇️
Bronze “Dancing Shiva” sculptures often feature in museums. This article by Edmond de Taillac shows how they got there. “The Last Dance of Śiva: Local Supply Networks, Colonial Collecting, and the Making of ‘Indian Art’ in Early Twentieth-Century South India” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Why has Sanchi Stupa’s east gate been replicated in Germany? All revealed in this illustrated, OA article by Parul Singh and Shraddha Bhatawadekar Full article: (Re)creating the Authentic: Reproductions of the Sanchi Gateway in Berlin Museums www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
(Re)creating the Authentic: Reproductions of the Sanchi Gateway in Berlin Museums
The first casts of the Sanchi Stupa gateway in India were made in the nineteenth century under colonial regime and collected by various museums in Europe, including Berlin. While these casts were s...
tandfonline.com
Now on BBC Radio Six, Professor Emeritus @racheldwyer.bsky.social is talking about Bollywood cinema!!
First Nations Mayflower hero was sold into slavery, files in Malaga Archives reveal www.thetimes.com/article/1306...
Mayflower hero was secretly sold into slavery, hidden files reveal
Crumbling documents discovered in a Malaga archive expose how an English merchant used a legal fiction to sell Squanto and other indigenous captives in 1614
thetimes.com
Oh good, they found some fuel. Artemis II crew blast into orbit with historic moon launch www.thetimes.com/article/0a36...
Artemis II crew blast into orbit with historic moon launch
Four astronauts buckle in for a journey to space that will take them to parts of the moon never seen before — and could help chart a future to Mars
thetimes.com
Pleased to be sharing this open access article, authored by Radha Kapuria (Durham), Shweta Sachdeva Jha (Delhi) and myself. It's the intro for a JRAS volume we co-edited on "The Travelling Female Performer in South Asia". www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Exhibition at Kensington palace on the daughters of Duleep Singh, the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. Last princess of Punjab who saved families from the Holocaust www.thetimes.com/article/e6d7...
Last princess of Punjab who saved families from the Holocaust
Catherine Duleep Singh helped people flee Nazi Germany. She and her sisters, including a prominent suffragette, are the subject of a Kensington Palace exhibition
thetimes.com
Museum of London Docklands shrouds portrait of slave trader Beeston Long to ‘reclaim Caribbean history’ www.thetimes.com/article/4d3e...
Museum shrouds slave trader portrait to ‘reclaim Caribbean history’
London Museum Docklands partially concealed the portrait of Beeston Long, a former governor of the Bank of England, as part of its exhibition
thetimes.com
“From Madras to London: East India Company artworks in the 18th century.” My lecture, hosted by the Tamil Heritage Trust… www.youtube.com/live/LzVhkb5...
DrJennifer Howes. "Madras to London: East India Company Artworks in the 18th Century". Mar 7, 2026
YouTube video by Tamil Heritage Trust
youtube.com
This image from Baderkhan Ahmed for the AP can be used to make a lot of valid political and biosafety points, and I assume Banksy will appropriate it, but my goodness what a brilliant photograph. Alt text. www.instagram.com/p/DVewWwyiOR...
For a limited time, you can download a free e-copy of my article, "Decolonising the Rescue Archive: Antiquarian usage of Amaravati sculptures in the British Museum". The article will be published in South Asian Studies journal later this year. Link on my website's homepage www.jenniferhowes.com
