Search results for: 'EXHIBITION WALKTHROUGH | HISTORIES IN THE MAKING: PHOTOGRAPHING INDIAN MONUMENTS, 1855-1920'

Given Singapore’s sizeable Indian population and its position as a leading financial centre, DAG’s debut at Art Stage Singapore was an obvious corollary. Indian artists are avidly collected in this city-state but DAG’s attempt, as always, was to introduce the masters to visitors at the fair. While keeping in mind the best modernists, it also curated a selection most likely to appeal to Eastern sensibilities—thereby displaying its range and the diversity of Indian art. Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Dhanraj Bhagat F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Gogi Saroj Pal Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali Jeram Patel K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar Laxman Pai M. F. Husain N. S. Bendre P. T. Reddy Paramjit Singh Prokash Karmakar Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S. Dhanapal S. H. Raza Sakti Burman Sohan Qadri Sunil Das

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DAG’s booth at Art Basel Hong Kong at its second outing there consolidated its gains from the previous edition by building on the artists it had first presented at the seminal fair. It matched the fair’s focus of a vibrant Asian art with its premier selection of Indian modern art of the twentieth century. The selection presented twenty-five of the most significant Indian modern artists—consisting of painters and sculptors, figurative and abstract artists—who, with the innovations they brought to their art, contributed significantly to the rich diversity and expanse of Indian modern art as we know it today. Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Biren De F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh George Keyt Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud Krishen Khanna Laxman Pai M. F. Husain N. S. Bendre Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S. H. Raza S. K. Bakre Sakti Burman Sohan Qadri Sunil Das

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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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A well-known poet and essayist, Prayag Shukla is also one the foremost writers on art in Hindi. He has authored monographs on artists like J. Swaminathan, M. F. Husain and Ambadas, expanding upon these artists’ relationships with local institutions and contexts of art-making in India since the 1960s.

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Born in Maharashtra, B. Vithal took a diploma in sculptural art from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. Taking to art with natural ease, he began drawing as early as five years of age, making Ganesha and other popular Hindu deities on his slate using chalk. The inspiration sustained through his entire life, and his work was mainly inspired by Hindu mythology, philosophy, and ancient Indian art.  Learn More

In the galaxy of modern masters, one name that is synonymous with twentieth century Indian art, is M. F. Husain’s. Born in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, on 17 September 1911, Husain came to Bombay in 1937 to become a painter, where he slept on footpaths and painted under streetlights. A self-taught artist, he began his career painting cinema posters and hoardings, and, in 1941, started making toys and furniture designs. Learn More

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March to Freedom re-interprets the well-known story of the Indian freedom struggle and anticolonial movement through works of art and some historic artefacts. Drawn from the collections of DAG, they range from eighteenth and nineteenth century European paintings and prints, to lesser known works by Indian artists that merit greater recognition, alongside some iconic pieces. Rather than following the usual chronological path, the story is structured around eight themes. Each represents one arena, or stage, on which the anti-colonial struggle took place, to expand the story beyond politics, politicians, and battles (which also feature). Conceived to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, this visual journey seeks to do more. A. A. Raiba Asit Kumar Haldar Alfred Crowdy Lovett Atul Bose Baburao Sadwelkar Bijan Chowdhury Biren De C. Stanfield Charles D’Oyly Charles Shepherd Charles Walter D’Oyly Chintamoni Kar Chittaprosad Dattatraya Apte David Gould Green Devayani Krishna D. Newsome Edward Orme Gobardhan Ash Gopal Ghose G. Tait Haren Das Hemanta Misra Henri Cartier-Bresson Henry Martens Henry Salt Henry Singleton Jacob Epstein James Hunter James Fraser John Gantz John Jabez Edwin Mayall K. K. Hebbar Kanwal Krishna K. C. S. Paniker K. G. Subramanyan K. Sreenivasulu K. S. Kulkarni Laxman Pai M. Eyre Proudman M. K. Parandekar M. S. Morgan Nemai Ghosh N. R. Sardesai Prahlad Anant Dhond Paritosh Sen Prokash Karmakar P. T. Reddy Radha Charan Bagchi Robert Dodd R. Vijay Satish Gujral Satish Sinha S. Dhanapal Stella Brown Sudhir Khastgir Sushil Chandra Sen Sunil Das Sunil Madhav Sen Thomas Anbury Thomas Daniell Thomas Jones Barker V. A. Mali V. B. Pathare V. Veevers William Daniell William Hodges Anonymous Artists Learn More

It was in the 1970s that the government of India declared nine artists as National Treasures, attesting to the significance of their contribution to the shaping of modern Indian art identity. ‘Navratna: Nine Gems of Indian Art’ was a unique opportunity to see seminal works by all the nine together, to understand the uniqueness of their collective contribution, at Drishyakala, a joint collaboration between DAG and the Archaeological Survey of India. Learn More

Raja Ravi Varma’s singular impact on Indian art is unparalleled by any artist. Largely self-taught, he is probably the first Indian artist to have articulated Indian subject matters through naturalism and the use of oil paints with brilliant mastery, considered until then a European idiom. Learn More

A workshop for middle school educators on implementing an arts-led and project-based module for learners, using artworks and archival objects from ‘March to Freedom’, DAG’s historic exhibition on the 75th year of Indian Independence.

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That Anupam Sud is one of the most prominent printmakers in the country is a given, even though it would be unfair to limit so versatile an artist to only being a printmaker. Indeed, her body of work includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, bookmaking—and as you will see through the pages of the book accompanying the exhibition, a record-keeper observing the passage of time with self-portraits that she has undertaken to make periodically. A role-model for generations of artists and printmakers through her work and for her influence as a teacher at the prestigious College of Art, New Delhi, Anupam Sud’s name evokes recognition around the world where she has admirers, collectors of her work, and students who have trained under her.

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