Cincinnati Art Museum awakens senses with Pahari exhibit

The Cincinnati Art Museum wants visitors to feel history – literally – early next year, as it presents more than 40 paintings from the historic Pahari kingdoms, enhanced with interactive elements that let visitors experience the art in unique ways.

“Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas” features vibrant court paintings from the 17th through 19th centuries, originating in the mountainous kingdoms of present-day northern India. The exhibition arranges the works thematically and invites visitors into a multisensory experience. The museum pairs some of the pieces with related scents or touchable elements and surrounds others with musical soundscapes that deepen their “bhava,” a Buddhist and Indian term for emotion or mood.

“Longing” opens on Feb. 6 and runs through June 7.

Ainsley M. Cameron, the museum’s curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art & Antiquities, said the exhibition’s experiential elements aim to spark physical, intellectual and emotional connections.

“I’m excited to share the vibrant painting histories of the Pahari region with Cincinnati audiences,” she said, adding that she hopes visitors “actively participate in their museum experience, interact with art in multiple ways and forge new connections with the works on display.”

The exhibition examines how Pahari artists developed distinctive techniques to create small, portable works for royal, noble and priestly patrons. These paintings often traveled between courts as gifts, forming broad networks of artistic exchange. They portray longing in many forms, from spiritual devotion and romantic yearning to rulers seeking political power.

“This exhibition explores paintings through the lens of a shared human emotion,” Cameron said. “Through color, form and composition, paintings that portray devotional and cultural values, amorous alliance or political gain also reveal an emotive force reflective of the region in which they were produced.”

One show, part of a bigger whole

“Longing” contributes to a larger research partnership linking the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. Curators from all three institutions, working with scholars in India, continue to study, publish and exhibit works from the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection.

The museums in Cleveland and the nation’s capital plan to open their own Pahari exhibitions in April 2026. All three shows connect to “Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories,” a 308-page illustrated volume published by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Yale University Press.

CAM will present its exhibition in the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Gallery and the Manuel and Rhoda Mayerson Gallery, across from the Terrace Café. Admission is free.

Visitors can find related programs and share updates using #LongingAtCAM.

Cincinnati Art Museum