Search results for: 'Conversation | The Picturesque and the Pedestrian'

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.

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.

Indian art defies any easily tailored silos to carve for itself a confident assertion of its own identity within a global context, while being a part of its larger assimilative journey. it is this rich legacy of Indian modernism that we hope to explore with The Centum Series which opens a window to the tantalising glimpse of the extraoridnary depth and breadth of its scope and variety. Round numbers are attractive, so we picked one hundred as our choice for this medley of artists and artworks that offers you a unique opportunity to acquire Indian modern art at attractive prices specially tailored for this sale. J. Sultan Ali Altaf Ambadas Amit Ambalal Amitava Anonymous (Early Bengal) Anonymous (Kalighat Pat) Dattatraya Apte B. N. Arya Radha Charan Bagchi Ramkinkar Baij S. K. Bakre Maniklal Banerjee Ananda Moy Banerji Prabhakar Barwe R. B. Bhaskaran Jyoti Bhatt Bikash Bhattacharjee Nikhil Biswas Nandalal Bose Eric Bowen Shobha Broota Vasundhara Tewari Broota Sakti Burman Ramendranath Chakravorty Kanchan Chander Avinash Chandra Sankho Chaudhuri Chittaprosad Jagmohan Chopra Jogen Chowdhury M. A. R. Chughtai Thomas Daniell Arup Das Prodosh Das Gupta Haren Das Sunil Das Bimal Dasgupta Shanti Dave Partha Pratim Deb Jagadish Dey Mukul Dey Rajendra Dhawan Indra Dugar Gopal Ghose Nemai Ghosh Subba Ghosh Bipin Behari Goswami K. Laxma Goud Satish Gujral Ajit Gupta S. L. Haldankar Somnath Hore M. F. Husain Prokash Karmakar Sudhir Khastgir P. Khemraj Bose Krishnamachari K. S. Kulkarni Ram Kumar Walter Langhammer Pradip Maitra Hemanta Misra Dhruva Mistry Rabin Mondal A. H. Müller L. Munuswamy V. Nageshkar Reddeppa Naidu S. Nandagopal Ved Nayar Akbar Padamsee Laxman Pai Gogi Saroj Pal Rm. Palaniappan M. K. Parandekar Madhvi Parekh Manu Parekh R. N. Pasricha Ganesh Pyne Sohan Qadri K. S. Radhakrishnan A. A. Raiba Krishna Reddy P. T. Reddy Rekha Rodwittiya Jamini Roy Prosanto Roy G. R. Santosh Paritosh Sen Nataraj Sharma Lalu Prasad Shaw Shuvaprasanna Paramjeet Singh F. N. Souza Anupam Sud Thota Vaikuntam S. G. Vasudev Jai Zharotia Moti Zharotia

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.

'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.

Manifestations VI features an assortment of seventy-five significant artists curated from its collection. Not organised around theme or style, Manifestations features a single work or a related series of works by each chosen artist, which reflect an important facet of their unique artistic journeys. Usually dominated by 20th century modern Indian art, Manifestations VI features works spanning three centuries, from a ‘Company Painting’ set in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, done by Thomas Daniell for the East India Company in the 1790s, to an Early Bengal work of a ferocious Kali astride a supine Shiva, to several 20th century modern works. A A. Raiba Ambadas Amitava Anonymous (Early Bengal) Asit Kumar Haldar Avinash Chandra Amitava N. Arya Benode Bihari Mukherjee Bikash Bhattacharjee Bimal Dasgupta Biren De Bireswar Sen Charan Bagchi Chintamani Kar Chittaprosad P. Roy Chowdhury Dharamnarayan Dasgupta F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Haloi George Keyt Gopal Deuskar Gopal Ghose Gulammohammed Sheikh Himmat Shah Indra Dugar J. P. Gangooly J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy Jeram Patel Jyoti Bhatt Jogen Chowdhury K. C. S. Panicker K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud K. S. Kulkarni Khagen Roy Kshitindranath Majumdar Laxman Pai M. A. R. Chughtai M. F. Husain M. F. Pithawalla M. V. Dhurandhar N. S. Bendre Nandalal Bose Nikhil Biswas P. Khemraj P. V. Janakiram Paritosh Sen Pestonji E. Bomanji Prodosh Das Gupta Prokash Karmakar R. Vijaiwargiya Rabin Mondal Raja Ravi Varma Ram Kumar Rameshwar Broota Ramkinkar Baij Ranbir Singh Kaleka Rasik Durgashankar Raval Radha Charan Bagchi S. H. Raza Satish Gujral Shanti Dave Shobha Broota Shyamal Dutta Ray Sohan Qadri Somnath Hore Suhas Roy Sunil Das Thomas Daniell Tyeb Mehta V. Nageshkar V. S. Gaitonde V. Viswanadhan

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

Art Lab by DAG’s Museums Programme is a pop-up art exhibition of facsimiles of works from the DAG Museum Collection that travels to schools and introduces students to modes of visual learning. After two successful iterations in CBSE and ICSE schools in Kolkata, Art Lab travelled to its first Bengali medium West Bengal Board school—Barisha Janakalyan Vidyapith for Girls. Through three days of workshops spread across two weeks, the students interacted with the artworks, learnt the basics of research, delved into historical material, and developed their own creative projects. Take a peek at some of the wonderful projects they curated as they took over the exhibition and made it their own.