This exhibit presents new paintings by Katharine Dufault based on her recent visit to Northern India: the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh regions.
“I am inspired by the landscape and light of Northern India – Hindustan – and the brilliant colors of daily life. Driving through villages on our way to the Taj Mahal was a mass of color – women’s saris, men’s dhotis, billboards, painted trucks and gaily decorated rickshaws. Wagons with mounded fruits and vegetables atop colored cloths; camels pulling a truck-bed laden with straw; a brightly dressed figure balancing a basket on her head overflowing with brilliant green grass and glossy black bullocks chained outside dim shacks. Even an elephant with silver rings on its tusks waits by the roadside. Life continues to move along amid the noise of horns and shouts and tinny transistor radios.
The Taj Mahal was a pivotal experience too. It is the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It appeared to be alive – as if it had just sighed and was pausing for a second. Everyone seemed to have the same feeling when in its presence. I was very moved and surprised: how could a bricks and mortar building – all right, a marble and stone palace – move me? Photographs cannot capture the beauty of actually being in its presence.”
- Katharine Dufault, 2012
