Essay: Forbes’ Decorative Ecology at the Intersection of Art and Natural History

Madison Clyburn has written an essay, which you can read here, exploring the intersection of art and natural history in James Forbes’ collages. Forbes cut, pasted, and adapted illustrations, drawing heavily on the often uncredited artistic contributions of Indian painters. His work embodies both the cultural exchange and the exploitation inherent in colonial interactions, as he reimagined Indian art within a European framework, reflecting the broader imperial practice of extracting and reshaping colonized knowledge and aesthetics for Western consumption.