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Christiana Herringham
‐
Promoter of Indian art in Britain and a member of the India Society
Other names
Christiana Powell
Lady Herringham
Christiana Jane Herringham
Place of birth
Place of death
Sussex
About
Christiana Powell married Wilmot Herringham in 1880. Her father had been, among other occupations, an art collector. Herringham was also interested in art, an interest that was encouraged by her husband. In 1906 the Herringhams toured India and saw the Ajanta caves in Hyderabad, which contained damaged wall paintings of the life and times of Buddha.
In 1910 Herringham became involved in the promotion of Indian art in the UK through her friendship with William Rothenstein. Ernest Havell and Rothenstein formed the India Society and Herringham joined the committee. She was the only female committee member at the time. The Society would often meet at her home at 40 Wimpole Street in London. Her husband became Chair of the India Society committee in 1914.
Following the formation of the Society, Herringham returned to the Ajanta caves with Rothenstein. She set up a camp with the help of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and with several artists set about copying the frescoes. It should also be noted that Herringham was a committed suffragette. In 1914 she returned to the UK but was beset by ill health until her death in Sussex in 1929.
Ananda Coomaraswamy, E. M. Forster, Roger Fry, Ernest Havell, T. W. Rolleston, William Rothenstein.
Ajanta Frescoes (London: India Society, 1915)
Arrowsmith, Rupert Richard, 'An Indian Renascence and the Rise of Global Modernism – William Rothenstein, Abanindranath Tagore, and the Ajanta Frescoes', Burlington Magazine (April 2010), pp. 228–35
Crawford, Elizabeth, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866–1928 (London: UCL Press, 1999)
Lago, Mary, Christiana Herringham and the Edwardian Art Scene (London: Lund Humphries, 1996)
Lago, Mary, ‘Herringham, Christiana Jane, Lady Herringham (1852–1929)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2006) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/64758]
India Society Papers, Mss Eur F147, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras
Rothenstein Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University
Catalogue of the Herringham Collection, Archives, Royal Holloway, University of London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
