Former JNU Prof and Art Historian Kavita Singh Passes Away

Art historian, scholar, writer, and former professor and dean at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Kavita Singh, passed away on Sunday after battling cancer for over two years. She was 59.

Singh was among six eminent researchers in 2018 who won the Infosys Prize by the Infosys Science Foundation in the humanities category for her “extraordinarily illuminating study of Mughal, Rajput and Deccan art as well as her insightful writing on the historical function and role of museums and their significance in the increasingly fraught and conflicted social world in which visual culture exists today.”

Singh obtained a BA in English literature from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, in 1985 and an MFA in Art History from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara in 1987. A PhD in art history from Panjab University, she taught at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, from 1991 to 1997 and was also an art curator at the National Museum.

She authored and co-authored many books and monographs on Indian art, including New Insights Into Sikh Art (2003), InFlux: Contemporary Art in Asia (2013), No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia (2014) and Museums, Heritage, Culture: Into the Conflict Zone (2015).

Several of her colleagues and students also took to Twitter to pay homage to her 

'Most stylish Sardarni': Twitter Tributes for Kavita Singh

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kavita Singh!!!!<br>My most favourite person@JNU. Such a brilliant scholar and the Coolest, most generous and stylish Sardarni! <br>Learnt so much 🫡<br>Will always remember you as a fighter and a winner ❣️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIP</a> <a href="https://t.co/5rYPjj9whv">pic.twitter.com/5rYPjj9whv</a></p>&mdash; Uzma Azhar Ali (@azhar_uzma) <a href="https://twitter.com/azhar_uzma/status/1685676043712204800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There will never, ever be as kind and strong a person as her in the halls of Indian academia again. Your sharpest scholarship and your affection for your students will forever live with us, Professor Kavita Singh. <a href="https://t.co/CUzUXa2SQE">pic.twitter.com/CUzUXa2SQE</a></p>&mdash; ਅਕਸ਼ਜ Akshaj, (they/he/elle/él) (@mihrchand) <a href="https://twitter.com/mihrchand/status/1685634531553087488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Will miss the erudition of Prof. Kavita Singh – took multiple classes with her on Mughal miniatures and Museum Studies and a memorable fieldtrip to Agra at SAA. She taught us to read widely, critically and with joy. Rest in Power. <a href="https://t.co/euZnMTyuVR">pic.twitter.com/euZnMTyuVR</a></p>&mdash; Debanjali Biswas, PhD (@DilebJaan) <a href="https://twitter.com/DilebJaan/status/1685767781285859328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

'Incredibly generous'

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In 2017, Kavita Singh gave a talk at Columbia on Holocaust museums and the struggle to create collective memory. Her work grounded so much of my writing on the politics of memory.<br><br>She was erudite, sharp and incredibly generous with her time and scholarship. Rest in peace. <a href="https://t.co/8evRKo5FIf">pic.twitter.com/8evRKo5FIf</a></p>&mdash; Anish Gawande (@anishgawande) <a href="https://twitter.com/anishgawande/status/1685644389941755904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Economist Jayati Ghosh also took to Twitter and said that a “wonderful human being was lost” in Singh’s passing. “A pillar of strength at JNU who kept her academic contributions flowing even while managing the most immense challenges in the university and from her health. May she continue to inspire others,” Ghosh said.

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