Towards an End of New Beginnings: A Historiographical Exegesis of T.K. Sabapathy's 'Regionalist Perspectives'

Abstract

T.K. Sabapathy is widely regarded as the pre-eminent art historian in Singapore, and possibly Southeast Asia. In addition to serving as an educator, curator, critic and advisor, Sabapathy is a prolific writer with an unrivalled textual output that spans five decades and a multitude of art historical concerns. Through a close reading of Sabapathy's 1996 paper "Developing Regionalist Perspectives in Southeast Asian Art Historiography", this essay dissects a single representative idea from Sabapathy's extensive corpus, specifically what he designates as 'regionalist perspectives'. Part exegesis, part historiography, this essay investigates the nuances and features of 'regionalist perspectives', the individual motivations and extrinsic forces which contributed to this approach, as well as suggests some reasons for its prominence and enduring association with Sabapathy's work as an art historian. It aims to further historiographical interest in the oeuvre of an art historian who has had an immense and indubitable impact on the disciplinary foundations of modern Southeast Asian art history.