KOMMAREDDI FAMILY LECTURE SERIES

Sculptural Abundance and Visual Prestige: Hoysala Temples in Karnataka, India

Dr. Katherine E. Kasdorf, Guest Lecturer

September 21 | 6p | FIA Theater

In this lecture, join Dr. Katherine E. Kasdorf to explore the visual intricacies of Hoysala temples in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Built primarily during the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Hoysala dynasty flourished in the region, the temples encompass a remarkable variety of innovative architectural and sculptural forms. As we will see, in addition to serving the Hindu and Jain communities for whom they were built, these extraordinary buildings brought prestige to their cities and towns.

Dr. Kasdorf is Associate Curator of Arts of Asia and the Islamic World at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Curatorial projects include new permanent-collection galleries at the DIA and the Walters Art Museum, where she previously held a Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship, and the Walters exhibition Ferocious Beauty: Wrathful Deities from Tibet and Nepal. She has published articles on South Asian temple sculpture and architecture, and on architectural reuse in Hindu and Islamic contexts, among other subjects. She received her PhD in South Asian art history from Columbia University, completing a dissertation on temples of the Hoysala capital in Halebidu, Karnataka, southern India.