Author Talk: “Ellora Caves” with Deepanjana Klein and Arno Klein

An architectural marvel, Ellora is a sprawling complex of 34 temples and monasteries carved side-by-side into the wall of a high cliff in western India’s Maharashtra state. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the world’s largest rock-cut cave sites; carved by highly skilled guilds of sculptors, painters and architects, it is home to “some of the boldest and finest sculptural compositions to be found in India” (UNESCO).

Deepanja Klein and Arno Klein have documented Ellora for over three decades; their new book Ellora: Cross-Fertilization of Style in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain Cave Temples seeks a nuanced understanding of the cave temples by examining their iconography, patronage, cultural exchange, and art production process. Alongside essays from five contributing authors, the publication features over 200 photographs as well as ground plans and rarely seen 19th-century archival materials.

Join us for an expert overview of Ellora and an inside look at the challenges and highlights of documenting this extraordinary historic site, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Presented in collaboration with SACHI, the Society for Art and Cultural Heritage of India.

• About the Authors

  Deepanjana Klein, Ph.D., is the Special Advisor to the Chairperson, and Director of Acquisitions and Development at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi. She has been documenting the Ellora cave temples since 1993 and was awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to create the first comprehensive photo documentation of the site.

   

  Arno Klein, Ph.D., is Director of Innovative Technologies at the Child Mind Institute in Manhattan. He has held positions at Columbia University, Stony Brook University, and the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping. He first visited Ellora in 1992 with Professor Walter Spink; he has photographed the site for three decades and is the creator of the elloracaves.org website.