Contributions of Michael W. Meister
Professor Michael W Meister (b. 1943) is the W. Norman Brown Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Art History and South Asia Studies. He has been associated with the University of Pennsylvania since 1976. Prof. Meister has extensively researched the visual and material culture of South Asia, with a focus on temple morphology, stylistic patterns, and architectural vocabulary. His extensive body of work has significantly enriched the study of Indian temple art and architecture. His publications cover various regional styles, historical periods, and theoretical perspectives, offering comprehensive insight into the architectural and cultural contexts of Indian temples. His writings primarily focus on the temples located in the western regions of India, which are part of the modern state of Rajasthan. The subjects of his writings range from a group of temples in Osian in Rajasthan, temples along the Indus, and single temples like the Udayeshwar temple in Madhya Pradesh to morphological studies of temple shikharas (superstructures or spires) and their components and sculptural panels on themes like Krishna lila (deeds).
Select Readings:
‘Access and Axes of Indian Temples.’ In Thresholds 32 (2006): 33–35.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy: Essays in Architectural Theory. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and Oxford University Press, 1995.
Cooking for the Gods: The Art of Home Ritual in Bengal (with Pika Ghosh). Newark, NJ: The Newark Museum, 1995.
Discourses on Siva, Proceedings of a Symposium on the Nature of Religious Imagery. Edited and with an Introduction by Michael W. Meister. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press and Bombay: Vakils, Feffer & Simons. 1983
Encyclopædia of Indian Temple Architecture, American Institute of Indian Studies, 1977-1992. (Michael W. Meister assumed the role of the General Editor).
“Image Iconopraxis and Iconoplasty in South Asia.” In RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 51 (2007): 13–32.
Making Things in South Asia: The Role of Artist and Craftsman. Philadelphia: South Asia Regional Studies Department, 1988.
“Mountain Temples and Temple-Mountains: Masrur.” In Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 65, no. 1 (2006): 26–49.
“Prāsāda as Palace: Kūṭina Origins of the Nagara Temple.” In Artibus Asiae 49, no. 3/4 (1988): 254–280.
Temples of the Indus: Studies in the Hindu Architecture of Ancient Pakistan. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010.
Footnotes:
[1] Pika Ghosh and Pushkar Sohoni, eds., Chakshudana or Opening the Eyes: Seeing South Asian Art Anew, Visual Media and History Series (Chaksudana (Opening the eyes) (Conference), Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2024), xviii.
[2] Ibid., 2.