Search results for: 'Chittoprasad a re'

Born on 7 February 1904, in Behala, Bengal, Benode Behari Mukherjee joined Santiniketan in 1917, and Kala Bhavana in 1919, where he was one of the first students of Nandalal Bose. A congenitally impaired vision that denied him normal schooling and resulted in a lonely childhood, brought him close to nature and had a deep impact on his art. Learn More

Any new exhibition brings with it a frisson of excitement, but by any measure India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art has been extra special. Most art lovers take Indian modernism for granted—but how many can truly claim to know what it really means. For too many years, the term has been loosely used, with very little awareness of what it includes, or omits. What the West understands and takes as a given is something that in India still remains a mystery, perhaps because art in India cannot strictly be viewed from the same trope as Western art. Perhaps this is true of most countries, but it is especially true of colonised nations where new engagements with art in the West were imposed without the benefit of growing their own local practices organically. This hybrid custom developed at various levels, which makes it exciting when viewed from some distance, but also imposes a challenge. Therefore the question: What does modernism in Indian art imply? Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Anjolie Ela Menon Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Bimal Dasgupta Biren De Dhanraj Bhagat Dharamnarayan Dasgupta F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Haloi Ganesh Pyne George Keyt Gieve Patel H.A. Gade Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali J. Swaminathan Jehangir Sabavala Jeram Patel Jogen Chowdhury K. G. Subramanyan K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. S. Kulkarni Krishen Khanna Laxman Goud Laxman Pai M. F. Husain Manjit Bawa P. Khemraj P.T. Reddy Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S. K. Bakre S.H. Raza Sakti Burman Sohan Qadri Somnath Hore Sunil Das

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Ghare Baire was a museum-exhibition showcasing over 200 years of art in Bengal. Presented by DAG in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Archaeological Survey of India, the exhibition was housed at the historic Currency Building, across twelve galleries featuring over 700 artworks. The exhibition was the largest showcase of Bengal Art, presenting a panoramic view of the evolution of art in a region that has been critical to the development of Indian modern art. The exhibition starts with the arrival of the travelling European artists at a time of exchange between Bengal and the world. This confluence of cultures stimulated new visual languages as we see in the Kalighat pat,  the Bengal School, and the subsequent emergence of artists who fearlessly and freely experimented with form and subject, reshaping the trajectory of art in India.

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DAG has been a pioneer in curating exhibitions that have historical significance. These have ranged from themes around different genres and art movements to artist retrospectives as well as engagements with forgotten masters. Most exhibitions are sourced from its own inventory and in recent years DAG has begun to explore eighteenth and nineteenth century art and artists in addition to its presence as a stakeholder of twentieth century art. Exhibitions are routinely organised at its galleries in New Delhi, Mumbai, and New York, as well as in collaboration with museums and other institutions. All exhibitions are accompanied by well researched and designed books, adding considerably to the documentation of Indian art history.

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Radha is painted as a queen in this Early Bengal oil painting, surrounded by her fellow Gopis (cowherds and companions) and Krishna—her divine consort and an incarnation of one of the Hindu trinity—dressed as a sentinel. She sits on her royal throne amid a forest landscape, perhaps recalling her identification as Vrindavaneshwari (goddess of Vrindavan). Going by the small but remarkable details of the jewellery, we can guess that it is the work of an artist trained in the miniature tradition. But does the painting hide other possible secrets?

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G. R. Santosh created a hugely accomplished career without formal training in art. His abstract paintings made in the early 1960s had Kashmir as his muse, and often used encaustic and beeswax—a process he learned from Shanti Dave. Architect and designer Pinakin Patel shares his views about In the Snows of Kashmir, Santosh’s masterful painting with textural relief in a monochrome palette.

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When the Met-Breuer opened in New York, its very first exhibition was a retrospective of Nasreen Mohamedi. Nasreen’s work is regarded as extremely important in the context of abstraction with delicate lines marking her compositions with a strength that is as remarkable as it is astounding, altering the way we see the world. The artist preferred drawing and sometimes photography, as a result her canvases are extremely rare to find. Sasha Altaf tells us more in this film about a canvas painted by her in Bahrain in 1969.

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Prabhakar Barwe’s Eighty-Five Safety Pins is a pioneering work that merges technology and traditional art. Created in 1991 using graphic design software on an Apple Macintosh, Barwe explored the concept of pixels, a hallmark of the digital era, while incorporating his signature enamel paint. This innovative approach reflects his curiosity about embracing the unknown future and reinterpreting it artistically. By abstracting the safety pin from its conventional form, Barwe invites viewers to reconsider its essence, offering an open-ended visual experience that challenges preconceived notions and encourages alternative perspectives. Art connoisseur Shireen Gandhy, a friend of the late artist, takes us behind the making of this extraordinary painting.

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This Untitled painting, created in the early-to-mid-1970s, reflects Shanti Dave's fervent experimentation during a prolific period marked by international recognition in mural making and exhibitions. Drawing inspiration from childhood memories of Badapura and nearby archaeological ruins, the abstract composition blends colour pigments, beeswax, and oil solutions in a dynamic interplay. Employing a reverse image technique with molten wax, the painting challenges perceptions and invites contemplation on the nature of truth. Noted fashion designer and art-collector Tarun Tahiliani explains the nuances of Shanti Dave’s work in a film specially created on the painting.

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S. H. Raza had begun to paint using oils, moving away from his impressionistic watercolours, on his way to winning the prestigious critics’ award in 1956. Just a year before, he completed a stunning painting of Parisian rooftops, revealing not a daylight scene but one of the night, only yellow lamplight from the streets dimly silhouetting the chimneys and sloping roofs. This period of Raza’s career is somewhat lesser known than his later, tantra-inspired works, as Ashok Vajpeyi and Aman Nath explain to us.

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Let us take a moment to appreciate this magnificent riverside scene that can be instantly recognised as a view of Benares by the distinctive steep steps, or ghats, running down to the Ganga. American artist and Orientalist Edwin Lord Weeks had a remarkable ability to create an impression of a real-time scene unfolding before viewers, enhanced by the subtle plays of light and colour. A prolific artist who created a visual diary of his travels through his paintings—of which his India works are arguably his finest with an appeal that has transcended time.

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A creative enquiry tool that explores the events leading up to and during the revolt of 1857.

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