Search results for: 'Charcoal and pastel on paper'

Are the histories of art and fashion distinct from each other? Even a cursory glimpse at the contemporary art landscape—on view during occasions such as the India Art Fair, 2023—tells us otherwise. Fabrics, textiles and weaving practices are being increasingly incorporated into the body of works produced by artists today. They bring with them a host of connotations, historical narratives and sensorial memories that working with other media does not. Uthra Rajgopal, a curator and collection adviser for museums, spoke with DAG briefly on the practice of collecting textiles for museums, their historical significance as artworks as well as trading commodities from South Asia, and how contemporary artists are responding to this complex colonial legacy through their own interventions.  

In February, Paris' Centre Pompidou--a premier centre for modern art since its construction in 1977--mounted an extensive solo show looking back at S. H. Raza’s career in painting. It represents a historic moment for Indian modern art’s international story as it unfolded over the twentieth century, and also marked Raza's own symbolic return to the place where he stayed for most of his working life. The fertile post-independent period saw cross-cultural connections being forged by Indian artists in Europe and America on their own terms and this show is a testament to Raza’s evolving encounters with land and mythology. The curators, Catherine David and Diane Toubert, spoke to DAG highlighting some of the takeaways from this major retrospective.

'The City as a Museum' in an annual art and heritage festival by DAG's Museums Programme. The second edition returned to Kolkata to celebrate the city's rich history of artistic practices and exchange. We travelled across the city and beyond to heritage spaces, artists' homes, and rare collections through unique walks, workshops, talks, performances and more. Explore a snapshot of this journey through photographs by Parameshwar Halder.

The Devi or the female power in Hindu mythology appears in various avatars in our everyday lives—as idols during the puja, on covers of magazines, product labels, calendars and posters. The modern history of visualising the Devi goes back to naturalistic depictions in oil paintings by the Early Bengal artists, which were surpassed in popularity and fame by Raja Ravi Varma and his studio. His representation, however, was regarded as too human-like by artists of the Bengal School in the early twentieth century, who created idealised forms based on a synthesis of classical visual traditions. In the twentieth century, we find artists responding to distinctive traits of the goddess to portray specific aspects of her power, or to convey the artist's own relationship with divinity. Few artists who have turned to Hindu myths have been able to escape the temptation to interpret the female power in their own way, and the diversity in style, medium, and mood is a testament to that.

England shaped Altaf’s political consciousness as well as his persona. He engaged in the anti-apartheid demonstration at Trafalgar Square held against the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela; a peaceful protest at the American Embassy opposing the bombing in North Vietnam; the Aldermaston March against the nuclear bomb; the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; he became a member of the Youth Wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Young Communist League (YCL). Any examination of the theoretical aspect of Altaf’s work must start with the knowledge that the work in question exemplified an element of ‘existentialist’ thought. 

The advent of abstraction is a defining moment in art history as we devise divisions between representational, figurative, and abstract art, with the need arising from this pivotal formal shift in the modern world. The term ‘figurative’ has come to represent an antithesis of sorts to the term abstract. One is representational of reality, the latter a derived (abstracted) representation or even non-representational (colour-field paintings for example).

One of the most important ways in which a work of art is authenticated is by checking its provenance. What does provenance mean and how does it affect the identity of an artwork itself? The concept has evolved historically over the years; below, we try to highlight some of the important aspects of this debate in our recurring series, Argot, that seeks to demystify some of the major ideas from the world of art.

As one of India’s most well-known artists, Tyeb Mehta still commands our attention for his commitment to experimentation. His ‘Diagonal series’ established him as a dynamic figure within the world of modern art, but how did this diagonal method come to be an important tool of composition in the last century? It all started with the invention of another compoitional tool called the 'rule of thirds'. Read below as we explore the origins of this artistic tool and see how it has evolved over time.

Often described as ‘Poetry in Stone’, the Taj Mahal was laid out between 1631-43 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is the architectural elements of the Taj complex that grab the most attention, but in fact the garden is the heart of the complex . The visitors today are so transfixed by the Taj itself that they remember very little of the garden. DAG Archive attempts to illustrate the  life and ‘afterlife’ of the Taj gardens, once its control was taken over by the British. This archive deep dive showcases the objects from A. E. P. Griessen’s (1875–1935) collection.

Shown at the Shanghai Biennale, exhibited in New York, widely admired for his consistency throughout his career, Rabin Mondal’s excoriating paintings are a savage indictment of social and political ills. A reticent, reserved artist, Mondal’s works offer a scathing commentary on the pursuit and abuse of power. A primal, primordial figuration describes his work in which people in positions of authority are rendered vulnerable because of the very power they aspire to. Their contorted features and clawed hands and feet represent their venality. Strong outlines, naked brushstrokes and potent use of green and red characterise most his work.

Ethnographic mapping and documentation of a vast country like India was an important part of the political and economic expansion of the East India Company from the middle of the seventeenth century onwards.