Coomaraswamy

A biography of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the pioneering interpreter of Indian art, philosophy, and mythology

“A rounded, gently critical, always interesting portrait of this unique personality.”—Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947) was a pioneer in Indian art history and in the cultural meeting of East and West in the twentieth century. A scholar in the tradition of the great Indian grammarians and philosophers, an art historian convinced that the ultimate value of art transcends history, and a social thinker influenced by William Morris, Coomaraswamy was a unique figure. Finding a universal tradition in past cultures ranging from the Hellenic and Christian to the Indian, Islamic, and Chinese, he wrote many influential books and essays in which he explored his ideas about ancient symbols and wisdom. In this biography, Roger Lipsey chronicles the development of Coomaraswamy’s ideas and the career that led him from geology to art history and metaphysics, and from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to England and the United States.