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'Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Court', an exhibition designed by Urban Salon for the V&A, opens to the public on 10 October 2009. The exhibition explores the world of the Maharajas and their unique rich culture and features over 250 objects including the Patiala Necklace, a selection of Art Deco paintings, a vintage Rolls Royce and photographs by Man Ray.
The exhibition opens with a large-scale portrait of Maharana Amar Singh II displayed on a 5-metre high 'gold leaf' wall, which evokes the opulence of India's royal courts in the 18th century. It continues with a recreation of an Indian royal procession complete with a life-sized model elephant adorned with animal jewellery, textiles and trappings and surmounted with a silver howdah and a life-sized model horse.
In further sections, we have reflected the tents and canopies of royal durbar festivals by suspending banner strips of red taffeta from the gallery ceiling. We worked with graphic designers Wood McGrath to design backlit historical maps, authenticated by the Indian Government, that show the shifts in power that took place in the 18th and early 19th centuries. For this, we designed brushed aluminium display panels, curved Art-Deco influenced object cases and vibrant pink walls to reflect this relationship with the European avant-garde.
We worked alongside lighting designers DHA and the exhibition graphics have been designed by Wood McGrath. Sound artist Janek Schaefer has developed the exhibition soundtrack using recordings of traditional Indian instruments, classical Indian music, and 1930s jazz era songs.
The Times (5 October 2009): "This is a very classy exhibition, displaying the V&A's ability at its best, with the help of some rare loans, to tell the story of a complex and important political and cultural evolution through the objects it engendered. Prepare to be dazzled."
The Independent (19 October 2009): "It would be difficult to find a more visually ravishing show than this in the whole of London."
V&A
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