ABSTRACT

In the field of architectural history, measured drawings constitute the basic corpus of information upon which chronologies and typologies are built. Computer-based analysis added to the acceptance of photogrammetry as man-power was neither available nor affordable. This short introduction to the different approaches of architectural documentation is meant as a background for the following evaluation of Robert Powell's imaginary documentations. The statement about imaginary documentation certainly opens up another path that leads to a broader understanding of texture and more evidently in the case of Bob's drawings from Swat and Mustang of the ethnographic setting. The ultimate representation of an esoteric building, the free-standing shrine dedicated to Unmatta Bhairava within the compound of Indresvara Mahadeva in Panauti, is one of Bob's most evocative paintings for various reasons. Bob's sketch of the Kuthu Math's ceremonial room documents this working process. Wild in its spontaneous expression, it represents a collage of designations of colour.