Ernest Binfield Havell

Ernest Binfield Havell (September 16, 1861 – December 31, 1934), who published under the name E.B. Havell, was a British arts administrator and author of numerous books about Indian art and architecture. He was a member of the Havell family of artists and art educators. He was the principal of the Government School of Art, Calcutta from 1896-1905.

Leben

In India, Havell initially served the Madras School of Art as Superintendent for a decade from 1884. He arrived Calcutta on July 5, 1896 and joined as Superiintendent of the Government School of Art, Calcutta next day. In between, he went to England for a year from April, 1902 to March, 1903. While in England, he published two valuable articles on Indian art in the October 1902 and January, 1903 issues of a well known art journal of London, The Studio. In January, 1906 he left for England on long leave and finally in 1908, he was removed from the post.

Havell worked with Abanindranath Tagore to redefine Indian art education. He established the Bengal school of art, which sought to adapt British art education in India so as to reject the previous emphasis placed on European traditions in favour of revivals of native Indian styles of art, in particular the Mughal miniature tradition.

Works

Havell wrote numerous books on Indian art and history, including:

• A Handbook of Indian Art
• Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India
• Indian Architecture: Its psychology, structure and history
• Ideals of Indian art
• Indian sculpture and painting
• Havell, E. B. (1904). A handbook to Agra and the Taj, Sikandra, Fatehpur-Sikri and the neighbourhood (1904). Longmans, Greens & Co., London.
• Havell, E. B. (1918). The History of Aryan Rule In India from the earliest times to the death of Akbar. Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York.

External links

• Works by Ernest Binfield Havel at Project Gutenberg
• Free non-copyrighted e-books by Ernest Binfield Havel at Internet Archive