Ananda Coomaraswamy

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy ( initials AKC, born August 22, 1877 in Colombo, † September 9, 1947 in Needham, Massachusetts) was a historian and philosopher of Indian art and art history and the symbols in the Asian culture. He was one of the early interpreters of Indian culture in the West.

He was the son of originating from Sri Lanka Tamil scholars Mutu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. In 1917, he became the first curator of Indian and Muslim Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He emphasized the spiritual element in Indian art. As a metaphysician, he was a representative of the philosophia perennis. Along with René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, he is considered the founder of the Traditionalist School.

His second wife was the English singer Alice Richardson, which occurred under the pen name Ratan Devi. From 1922 to 1930 Coomaraswamy was married to his third marriage with the American dancer and graphic artist Stella Bloch. The couple traveled together to the Far East. In the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Princeton University 650 letters from Coomaraswamy be kept at his wife.

Works

• History of Indian and Indonesian Art 1927 German edition: History of Indian and Indonesian Art. K. W. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1927; Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1965