Search results for: 'History of india and indian national'

The Story of Bengal Art presents a panoramic view of the evolution of visual arts in the region. The second episode, presented by Prof. Tapati Guha-Thakurta, picks up at the turn of the 20th century, when Bengal became an important nerve-centre of India's nationalist movement. The series was shot in the majestic galleries of DAG's Ghare Baire museum-exhibition at Kolkata's Currecy Building.

For its debut in London, DAG created a booth-in-booth display space at the historical exhibition venue, Olympia London, that offered glimpses of the artworks from all around, thereby improving its visibility and attracting visitors. Its choice of art too reflected the best from its collection of the twentieth century modern masters of Indian art, who, in turn, had been influenced by movements and artists in the West. Several of these had worked, briefly or for the duration of their careers, in London and Europe. These included Avinash Chandra, F. N. Souza, Ram Kumar, S. H. Raza, Laxman Pai, Manjit Bawa,
S. K. Bakre, Sakti Burman and Sohan Qadri among others. The room within the booth was reserved solely for the paintings by F. N. Souza. Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Anjolie Ela Menon Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Dharamnarayan Dasgupta F. N. Souza G.R. Santosh George Keyt Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali Jogen Chowdhury K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud Krishen Khanna Laxman Pai M. F. Husain Manjit Bawa N. S. Bendre P. T. Reddy Prodosh Das Gupta Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S. H. Raza S. K. Bakre Sakti Burman Sohan Qadri Sunil Das

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward FitzGerald is an anthology of four-line verses first published in 1859. The poems were inspired by Persian quatrains credited to Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), which became a global phenomenon at the turn of the twentieth century. The first edition of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat has been uniquely published over 3700 times, and the verses translated over 1000 times.

The wash technique has come to be associated in India with the art of the Bengal School, but the story of its origins in India takes us back to an era of rich cultural exchanges. In the early twentieth century artists like Abanindranath Tagore were trying to imagine a pan-Asian cultural identity, and they turned for inspiration to traditions from across Persia to Japan. Rabindranath Tagore's friendship with Okakura Kakuzō occasioned the arrival of several Japanese artists in Kolkata, such as Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunsō and Katsuta Shōkin. While the latter found inspiration in the Hindu epics, artists in Bengal adapted techniques that were used by the Japanese, such as the wash technique or the subtle use of ink and brush. Since then, the wash technique has been interpreted widely by individual artists, offering an ethereal quality of light to their works, or, in some cases, like for Gaganendranath Tagore and Prosanto Roy, new possibilities of painting in various shades of darkness.

As in previous editions, ‘Iconic Masterpieces’ allows viewers to experience the pinnacles of Indian art through its lens of quality, historicity, and rarity—to which the element of surprise adds an unexpected piquancy. An ‘Iconic’ exhibition from DAG is like a museum tour where the best Indian art can be enjoyed through a lively and perceptive curatorial eye that acknowledges and helps extend our knowledge of it.

DAG’s debut at Art Basel Hong Kong aimed to provide an overview of the twentieth century Indian art, tracking key catalytic movements and introducing important masters and artists to an art audience unfamiliar with their work. This included the Progressives, of course, but also other modernists whose contribution to Indian art has been significant. The exhibition display at its large booth was aimed at maximising the number of paintings that could be displayed, including sculptures, and was accompanied by a catalogue. A. A. Raiba Akbar Padamsee Anjolie Ela Menon Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Biren De D. P. Roy Chowdhury F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Pyne Gogi Saroj Pal H. A. Gade Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali Jogen Chowdhury K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud M. F. Husain P. T. Reddy Prodosh Das Gupta Prosanto Roy Ram Kumar S. Dhanapal S. H. Raza S. K. Bakre Sankho Chaudhuri Sohan Qadri Sunil Das

This collection of essays, co-edited by eminent scholars of art history, Tapati Guha-Thakurta and Vazira Zamindar, navigate the fraught religio-political contexts of South Asia to bring into relief the fragility and amorphous nature of a contested term like the ‘secular’.

Have you wondered how people looked at paintings and photographs in the nineteenth century? For DAG’s annual Heritage Festival ‘The City as a Museum’, we explored various aspects of the city’s visual culture. As we are about to launch the DAG Journal let us revisit the walk co-led by Sarbajit Mitra and Amreeta Das at the Uttarpara Jaykrishna public library to delve into the periodical archive and trace the evolution of printed pictures in India. Flipping through the pages of these periodicals offered glimpses into the everyday habits of consuming art—from simple wood-cut and lithograph illustrations, to full plate colour reproductions of paintings and photographs, artist albums, and exquisitely ornate typography.

'Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art, Edition 2' opened on 11 February, featuring fifty artworks which shaped the trajectory of pre-modern and modern art in the country. As part of the exhibition, William Dalrymple reflects on the painting ‘Panorama of a Small British Station on the Ganges’. Commissioned by Major James Natheniel Rind and painted like a scientific record of a scenario, the composition evokes a transitional phase between an older Mughal ethos and the emerging world of the Company.

Join us for a talk by William Dalrymple on Indian Painting for the East India Company on Wednesday, 5th April 2023, 7pm at DAG, 22A Janpath Road, Windsor Place, New Delhi