Search results for: 'Guha and hist'

How did the idea of Indian art come to be constructed over the last century and more? The painstaking work of collectors and curators went a long way towards establishing the history of art in India. In this article we highlight some of the most significant collectors of art from South Asia over the course of the twentieth century. Usually starting as personal collections, most of them would eventually donate their works to museums in India or abroad, allowing these rare works to be seen regularly by new generations of art enthusiasts across the world. Their collections, curated exhibitions and publications fashioned the canons of Indian modern and pre-modern art

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.

A sketching and reading session with art historian Debdutta Gupta on the artistic practice of assemblage centred on the text Khuddur Jatra by Abanindranath Tagore.

A talk by art historian Anshuman Dasgupta, investigating Somnath Hore’s exploration of pulp as an extension of his printmaking practice, focusing on his iconic ‘Wound’ series.

A creative workshop for young people, from ages 12 to 14 years, interacting with the narratives depicted in history paintings, inspired by a special viewing of artworks from the museums’ vaults.

The exhibition, Indian Divine, begins with the late nineteenth century art on mythological and religious themes from regions as diverse as Bombay and Bengal—these include Western style oil paintings of deities by such well-known artists of the academic realist styles as Raja Ravi Varma and M. V. Dhurandhar, and mythological/ religious episodes and figures featured in the hybrid style, a mix of Western realistic painting and traditional Indian art and concerns—the Early Bengal style, a very popular form, of which the exhibition presents over fifty works. It goes on to document Kalighat paintings on religious and mythological themes from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that were very popular, as well popular bazaar prints on these themes that flooded the markets with the advent of lithography and mechanical printing. 19th-20th century Popular Print Art School Print A. A. Almelkar A. A. Raiba A. P. Bagchi Asit Haldar B. C. Law B. N. Jija Baburao Painter Bat-tala Print (Anonymous) Bikash Bhattacharjee Bipin Behari Goswami Bishnupada Roychowdhury Chittaprosad D. B. Onkar D. D. Burman D. N. Sharma Debabrata Chakraborty Devyani Krishna Dhanraj Bhagat Dhirendra Narayan Dhruva Mistry Dipen Bose Early Bengal Early Bengal (Anonymous) F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Pyne Gogi Saroj Pal Haren Das Heramba Kumar Ganguly Indu Rakshit J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy K. C. Pyne K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud K. S. Kulkarni Kalighat pat (Anonymous) Kalipada Ghoshal Kamal Chattopadhyay Kanwal Krishna Krishen Khanna Kshitindranath Majumdar Laxman Pai M. F. Husain M. V. Dhurandhar Madhvi Parekh Mukul Dey Nandalal Bose Nihar Ranjan Sengupta P. T. Reddy P. V. Janakiram R. Vijaivargiya Rabin Mondal Radha Charan Bagchi Raja Ravi Varma Ramananda Bandhopadhyay Ramendranath Chakravorty Ranada Charan Ukil Ravi Varma School (Anonymous) Reddappa Naidu Roopkrishna S. Dhanapal S. G. Vasudev Sanat Chatterjee Sanjay Bhattacharya Sarada Charan Ukil Shyamal Dutta Ray Sohan Qadri Sudhanshu Ghosh Sudhir Ranjan Khastagir Sunil Das Sunil Madhav Sen Surendranath Ganguly V. Nageshkar

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.

One of India’s most important artists, Chittaprosad recorded pivotal political and social movements in the country, such as the Great Bengal Famine of 1943-44 and its fallout, in heart-wrenching sketches and drawings, alongside protests against colonialism, economic exploitation, urban poverty and depravity, just as beautifully as the many drawings, linocuts and scraper board illustrations he made for children, recording a beatific phase of plenitude and family values, and involving himself with marionettes for their entertainment.

An extraordinary exhibition of paintings, prints, maps and other objects, curated by Giles Tillotson, that recounts a visual history of the Mysore Wars between the East India Company and Tipu Sultan, this DAG exhibition explores how the narrative might have changed 222 years after the siege of Seringapatnam. The images, based on the British view of the time, reflect changing perceptions and Indian views on this epic battle and its political and social fallouts. A highlight of the exhibition is a painting by Henry Singleton depicting The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun, among other stellar works, that will be seen in India for the first time. Alexander Allan Cpt. R. Frazer David Wilkie Edward Orme Henry Singleton J. B. Mauzaisse James Hunter Johann Peter Krafft John Smart Mather Brown Obadiah Sherratt Robert Hyde Colebrooke Robert Home Robert Ker Porter Thomas Stothard

Most shows at DAG take time to develop because of the quality of research and scholarship they require to mount, but even by our own exacting standards, Continuum has taken longer than most. This, a retrospective in a sense of the six artists who formed the Progressive Artists’ Group, is seminal because it is for the first time since 1950 that the six artists forming the core group have been brought together in an exhibition of their works. The Progressives have become the rallying point for the modern movement in Indian art, and are considered among the most important artists of the last and current century. Of these, M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza and S. H. Raza dominate the market. Alongside, works by their contemporaries K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade and S. K. Bakre, who have largely been seen to have underperformed in comparison, will help re-draw such distinctions and place them on the same platform as their better-known peers. It will re-define their historical importance and gain them the recognition that is their due. Maqbool Fida Husain M.F.Husain Hari Ambadas Gade Syed Haider Raza Krishnaji Howlaji Ara Sadanandji k. Bakre Francis Newton Souza

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.