Susan Bean (Peabody Essex Museum)

Susan S. Bean
Curator of South Asian and Korean Art
Peabody Essex Museum 
East India Sq.
Salem, MA 01970  USA

phone: 978-745-9500 x3107
FAX:   978-744-6776
email: susan_bean@pem.org

Description of work:
I am interested in art, artists and artisanry in modern South Asia
(since ca. 1800)--particularly India's modern and contemporary art,
textiles in India and Bhutan (including production and trade, as well
as use and meaning), and also in clay image makers of Bengal. My
recent book Yankee India: American Commercial and Cultural Encounters
with India in the Age of Sail (Peabody Essex Museum and Mapin
Publications, 2001) uses early 19th century journals, letters, and
souvenirs to explore the development of American views of India during
the era of sailing ship commerce. I have done field research in
Karnataka and Bengal and have ongoing interest in the languages and
cultural histories of those regions. At the Peabody Essex Museum we
have established the Herwitz Gallery, the first in an American musuem
dedicated to India's contemporary art.