Aurora Graldi
Art History

Towards a definition of a 'Nepalese School' of Sculpture in the Historical Context of the XIIth, XIIIth and XIVth Centuries

Supervisor: Univ. Prof. Dr. Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Univ. Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle

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Aurora Graldi´s doctoral project aims at investigating the artistic production of Buddhist religious images and ritual objects realized by newār artists of the Kathmandu Valley, paying special attention to technical, social and economic changes that are occurring in the 21st century. Deeply connected with the cultural history of Himalayan area, this handicraft tradition is now entering into a new blooming historical phase due to a changed geographical, social and economic context. In fact, the panorama is becoming more and more wide and varied for typology of patrons and customers and for their request of new artistic idioms. This phenomenon has a strong interrelation with the spreading of Tibetan Buddhist communities all over the Himalayan area, where the Tibetan Diaspora is being settled since the early Sixties, and with the consolidation of the political image of Tibetan in exile even in western Countries.
Her research is also trying to evaluate in a wider perspective the history of newār Buddhist traditional metal images throughout the centuries, trying to investigate the different stylistic and cultural idioms and influences that came from the Himalayan area, with a particular focus on current Northern Pakistan and Kashmir.
Aurora received both her B.A. (2008) and M.A. (2010) in History of Art of India and Central Asia at the Department of Oriental and Linguistic Studies at the University of Bologna.