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As printing technologies improved around the turn of the 18th century, a large number of cheaply reproduced printed pictures—illustrated books, almanacs and mythological images—became available to the common people. This became an important vehicle of social change because people could own, produce and disseminate images of all kinds—from their beloved deities and favourite fictional characters to political cartoons critiquing colonial authorities. Printmaking was equally treasured by artists for its aesthetic potential, as techniques like lithography, etching, metal engraving, viscosity, gave practitioners infinite opportunities for creative exploration. This landmark exhibition gives us a comprehensive overview of the history of the printed picture in India.

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In celebration of birds and the long relationship art has shared with the winged creatures, this exhibition brings together four folios to present portraits of Indian birds made in the early nineteenth century. While representations of birds date back to the Ajanta murals, naturalistic imagery reached its peak in Mughal art under Emperor Jahangir. In the late 18th century two connected developments emerged in Lucknow and Calcutta. While General Claude Martin provided imported European paper to the artists in Lucknow to prepare botanical studies and other natural history works, in Calcutta Mary, Lady Impey (wife of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Bengal, Elijah Impey) had a menagerie where she employed artists to portray variety of animals and birds. Dr. William Roxburgh, superintendent of Calcutta Botanical Garden from 1793, also added to the discourse of natural history by appointing local artists to make botanical studies of the specimens in his charge. The efforts of Martin, Impey, Roxburgh and their artists gave rise to a large body of Company Paintings dedicated to natural history.

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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.

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Few artists claim as rich and intriguing a legacy as M. V. Dhurandhar in the landscape of late 19th and early 20th century Indian art. His practice leaves us with challenging questions about encounters and exchanges with India's colonial past and the influence of Europeans in shaping the evolution of painting. This exhibition revisits Dhurandhar's vast oeuvre through DAG's extensive collection of his paintings, archival material and ephemera, in an attempt to understand the socio-cultural context of his emergence, and to re-examine his influence on institutional and commercial art in the country.

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The idea of primitivism centres on the wish to identify with, or respond to, elements of a society that are deemed ‘primitive’. In artistic terms, it is about rejecting realism, simplifying technique and reducing the formal means of expression to a ‘primitive’ state. The term itself is borrowed from discussions of Western art, where high-profile examples include the images of Tahiti and its people made in the 1890s by Paul Gauguin, and responses to African sculpture by Pablo Picasso in 1906-09. The second thread of primitivism—the reduction of formal means—is best exemplified by the ‘cut-outs’ made by Henri Matisse in the 1940s.

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This exhibition looks at the diverse range, moods and styles that primitivism has taken in India, some artists practicing entirely in that style, while others experimenting with it in part, or sporadically. One can count simplicity and a move away from sophistication as key components, as also an inclination or at least a nod towards the folk. The exhibition does not attempt to be a comprehensive survey of India’s primitivists—there are others who would bear inclusion—but is an attempt to understand a body of work and how, given its Western countenance, it can be understood in the Indian context. More than anything else, it offers a clearer view than in the past of what primitivism might mean in the context of modern Indian art. Amrita Sher-Gil F. N. Souza George Keyt Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy Jogen Chowdhury K. G. Subramanyan K. S. Kulkarni M. F. Husain Madhvi Parekh Mohan Samant Rabin Mondal Rabindranath Tagore Ramkinkar Baij Sunayani Devi

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The contribution of the first renaissance capital of the country—Bengal—to Indian art and its development is longstanding, enormous and continued. As one of the largest repositories of Bengal art of the past two centuries, DAG is extremely pleased to announce its major exhibition. 19th Century Popular Paintings 19th Century Popular Prints Abani Sen Abanindranath Tagore Ajit Gupta Amalnath Chakladhar Amitabha Banerji Annada Prasad Bagchi Arun Bose Asit Haldar Atul Bose B C Law B. C. Sanyal Bampada Bandhopadhay Benjamin Hudson Benode Behari Mukherjee Bijan Choudhary Bikash Bhattacharjee Bipin Behari Goswami Biren De Bireswar Sen Biswanath Mukerji Chintamoni Kar Chittaprosad D. P. Roy Chowdhury Das Sunil Bimal Dasgupta Dharamnarayan Dasgupta Dhiraj Chowdhury Dhirendra Deb Burman Dipen Bose Early Bengal Oil Artists Gaganendranath Tagore Ganesh Haloi Ganesh Pyne Gobardhan Ash Gopal Ghoshe Gopal Sanyal Haren Das Hemanta Misra Hemendranath Majumdar Heramba Kumar Ganguly Hirachand Dugar Hiranmoy Roychaudhuri Indra Dugar Isha Mahammad J. P. Gangooly Jamini Roy Jogen Chowdhury Jogesh Chander Seal K. G. Subramanyan Kalighat Patuas Kalikinkar Ghosh Dastidar Kalipada Ghoshal Kartick Chandra Pyne Khagen Roy Kishory Roy Kshitindranath Majumdar Lalit Mohan Sen Lalu Prasad Shaw M. A. R. Chughtai Maniklal Banerjee Manishi Dey Meera Mukherjee Mukul Dey Nabin Chandra Ghosh Nandalal Bose Nikhil Biswas Nirode Majumdar Olinto Ghilardi Paritosh Sen Partha Pratim Deb Prahlad Karmakar Prankrishna Pal Prodosh Das Gupta Prokash Karmakar Prosanto Roy Rabin Mondal Rabindranath Tagore Radhacharan Bagchi Ramananda Bandhopadhyay Ramendranath Chakravorty Ramgopal Vijaivargiya Ramkinkar Baij Ranada Charan Ukil – Ranada Prasad Gupta Rathin Maitra Sailendranath Dey Sailoz Mukherjea Sakti Burman Samarendranath Gupta Sanat Kar Sankho Chaudhuri Sarada Chandra Ukil Sarbari Roy Chowdhury Satish Chandra Sinha Shuvaprasanna Shyamal Dutta Ray Somnath Hore Sudhir Ranjan Khastgir Suhas Roy Sunayani Devi Sunil Madhav Sen Surendranath Ganguly Surendranath Kar Sushil Chandra Sen Zainul Abedin

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Rabin Mondal is like a striding colossus of our times, scorching up the firmament with images that reflect societal malaise and his own inner turmoil. His determination to paint in a market-unfriendly manner is characteristic of his resolve. His canvases provide no safety net for the unwary viewer. Here is a confident artist aware of his self and his role with no fig leaf to offer those seeking beauty in art—not that his work is unbeautiful.

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This historic exhibition based on the association twenty-seven Indian artists had with art institutions, museums and art movements in Paris throws light on France as a cradle of modernism and what Indian artists gained from this relationship. Akbar Padamsee Amrita Sher-Gil Anjolie Ela Menon Arun Bose Chintamoni Kar Himmat Shah Jehangir Sabavala Jogen Chowdhury K. K. Hebbar Kanwal Krishna Krishna Reddy Laxman Pai Laxman Shrestha Nalini Malani Nasreen Mohamedi Nirode Mazumdar P. Khemraj Paritosh Sen Prodosh Das Gupta Prokash Karmakar Rajendra Dhawan Ram Kumar Sailoz Mukherjea Sakti Burman Sunil Das Syed Haider Raza V. Nageshkar V. Viswanadhan Zarina Hashmi

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For a socially responsive artist like Nataraj Sharma, the frenzied pace of change in contemporary times coupled with his upbringing in vastly different cultural milieus of India, Egypt, England, and Zambia, has proved to be the proverbial grist for his art mill. Learn More

Well-known for his landscape paintings, Kisory Roy was inspired to take up the arts by his father, who worked for the railways and was an occasional painter. Winning a school competition led Roy to the Government School of Art, Calcutta, where he studied from 1931-37. Under Mukul Dey, he learnt to work in several mediums like watercolour, oil, charcoal, and crayon. Learn More

The Kalighat temple came up in Calcutta in 1809, drawing communities of traditional artisans who began to produce pats or paintings on religious and mythological themes, sold to the pilgrims as souvenirs. Traditionally painted on cloth accompanied by vocal renditions of the illustrated, these pats were now produced by the largely anonymous pat makers, or patuas, on paper—cheap and easily accessible—in response to urban needs. They remained popular till the early decades of the twentieth century. Learn More