Search results for: 'From the niche anupam suf'

This exhibition looks at landscape painting in India over a period of two hundred years, from 1780 to 1980. We start with English artists who travelled in India from the late eighteenth century onwards, to rediscover what they were looking for, and how they saw what they found. The introduction of new materials, and the teaching of new methods in the art schools from the middle of the 19th century, encouraged some Indian artists to adopt similar academic style approaches. In the twentieth century, a reaction set in, as Indian artists sought new modes of expression. As if reclaiming their patrimony and the right to represent it, they invented a glorious array of new landscape styles.

Nine artists find special mention in India as ‘art treasures, having regard to their artistic and aesthetic value’, a directive by the Archaeological Survey of India in the 1970s. Spanning a period of one hundred years of art practice, these artists represent a diversity of art traditions and movements but are unified by one common thread: a return to Indian roots through context, theme, subject, and an engagement with identity.

This exhibition takes us on a journey into the lives and works of artists from a diverse range of traditions and practices. Despite differences in technique, philosophy and politics, they are united by an attempt to forge a new language of Indian art which rebels against existing visual vocabularies while seamlessly combining influences from European modernism and the rich history of visual arts from South Asia. This assimilation is achieved in different ways. From M. F. Husain’s figurative renditions of Indian deities to the many languages of abstraction developed by artists like Ram Kumar, Ganesh Haloi and others—we see artists responding variously to the socio-cultural problems of a post-colonial nation.

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.

For its fourth consecutive outing at Masterpiece London, DAG continued with the tradition of showing artists who had grown in appeal at the city’s truly cross-collecting ‘masterpiece’ fair, but with enough surprises to interest even the most fair-hardened visitor. From a large and vivid G. R. Santosh to a collection of small-sized Bireswar Sen watercolours, the selection was sensitively curated keeping in mind the cosmopolitan nature of London city and the visitors to the fair. Along with the Progressives, the exhibition included one of the finest sculptures created by Adi Davierwalla, remarkable paintings by Tyeb Mehta, Bikash Bhattacharjee, J. Sultan Ali, Avinash Chandra, and Hemen Mazumdar. As always, the emphasis in the booth lay in creating a rarefied visitor experience in which a handful of works allowed visitors to enjoy them at leisure without causing visual fatigue. The response was overwhelming. G. R. SANTOSH BIRESWAR SEN MADHVI PAREKH S. H. RAZA F. N. SOUZA TYEB MEHTA J. SULTAN ALI DHANRAJ BHAGAT BIKASH BHATTACHARJEE AVINASH CHANDRA SHANTI DAVE ADI DAVIERWALLA SATISH GUJRAL HEMEN MAZUMDAR SOHAN QADRI BIREN DE

The midwestern city of Chicago hosts one of America’s most important art fairs—Expo Chicago—in which DAG participated in an attempt to introduce Indian moderns to the diaspora there as well as to art-lovers in general. To introduce art to this midwestern population, DAG picked on well-established names from the Indian art marquee. This included the National Treasure artist Jamini Roy whose works outside India are a rarity since they cannot be exported. Others included the Progressives F. N. Souza and M. F. Husain, New York-based printmakers Krishna Reddy and Zarina Hashmi (both now deceased) and artist Natvar Bhavsar, abstractionists Sohan Qadri and G. R. Santosh, a rare sculpture by Prodosh Das Gupta, and a body of other modernists representing the diverse range of works created by Indian artists in the twentieth century. A suite of small format watercolour landscapes by Bireswar Sen was a highlight of the booth. Avinash Chandra Bireswar Sen Chittaprosad F N Souza F N Souza G R Santosh Ganesh Pyne Jamini Roy K.S Kulkarni Krishna Reddy Laxman Pai M F Husain Madhvi Parekh Natvar Bhavsar Paritosh Sen Prodosh Das Gupta Rabin Mondal Sohan Qadri Zarina Hashmi

New York’s popular Armory Show required DAG to put forth its most emphatically modernist artists. These included several who had been fellows of the John D. Rockefeller III Fund and would thus have a resonance among art connoisseurs in America for their language and context. Instead of concentrating on the Progressives, therefore, DAG decided to curate a selection that included works by Avinash Chandra and Natvar Bhavsar with extensive careers in New York, and an important body of works by artists such as S. H. Raza, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, Paritosh Sen, and Satish Gujral, among others. Avinash Chandra Jyoti Bhatt K G Subrmanyan Krishen Khanna Natvar Bhavsar Paritosh Sen Ram Kumar Tyeb Mehta Rekha Rodwittiya S. H. Raza Satish Gujral

New York-based, Indian artist Natvar Bhavsar has been one of the most important painters of his generation. Influenced by the colour field artists of America in the 1960s, he became acquainted with them and took their language forward in his unique manner. A celebrated international artist, Bhavsar’s works have been widely collected by institutions and museums in America and the West.

DAG’s emphasis for the 2019 edition of India Art Fair was a rarity—a selection of works of the kind visitors had not before seen. These included a glass mural by Avinash Chandra, a medium the artist loved but which had never before been shown in India; a large mural by Mrinalini Mukherjee; an artist’s chair by Prabhakar Barwe; evocative works by Hemendranath Mazumdar, Manjit Bawa, and Tyeb Mehta; powerful paintings by F. N. Souza, M. F. Husain, Rabin Mondal, and Krishen Khanna; exemplary abstract paintings by Ram Kumar, Shanti Dave, Sohan Qadri, J. Swaminathan, and G. R. Santosh; and other equally powerful artworks including a double-sided sculpture by Meera Mukherjee.

Avinash Chandra F N Souza G R Santosh Hemendranath Majumdar J Swaminathan Krishen Khanna M F Husain Madhvi Parekh Manjit Bawa Meera Mukherjee Mrinalini Mukherjee Paritosh Sen Prabhakar Barwe Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S H Raza S K Bakre Shanti Dave Sohan Qadri Tyeb Mehta

DAG’s second outing at Masterpiece London, the prestigious fair for everything from exceptional jewellery, furniture and antiquities to works of art held annually at Chelsea, was marked by outstanding inclusions of works by modern masters. The showstopper was a massive sized British Raj - Procession by M. F. Husain (one of two works, the other being his Theorem II) that grabbed everyone’s attention, but equally hypnotising were paintings by Natvar Bhavsar (Eketak), George Keyt (Two Women Amid Plants), F. N. Souza’s fabulous Temple Dancer, tantra-based paintings by G. R. Santosh, Prabhakar Barwe and a work in relief by Satish Gujral. Bikash Bhattacharjee Natvar Bhavsar Avinash Chandra K. K. Hebbar M. F. Husain Ranbir Singh Kaleka George Keyt Krishen Khanna Jehangir Sabavala G. R. Santosh F. N. Souza

For the second year running at the India Art Fair, DAG built upon its theme with a second edition of ‘Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art’, on a scale as ambitious as the previous year. A portrait by Raja Ravi Varma was the highlight among the old masters, but a stunning painting by F. N. Souza—Man and Woman Laughing—stole the show. Once again, the lavish booth set new standards in terms of display, visitor experience, private lounges, and a souvenir and book store. Special lectures were organised at the booth, and a large number of walkthroughs were arranged for pre-booked groups. As in the previous edition, a large book was published on the displayed works, and a daily art newspaper was published for visitors to the fair. Avinash Chandra Nandalal Bose Chittaprosad F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh M. V. Dhurandhar J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy K. H. Ara M. F. Husain Ram Kumar S. H. Raza Rabindranath Tagore

For its debut participation in the modern section of Art Dubai 2017, DAG focussed on the unconventional theme of Neo-Tantra as a way of bringing India’s unique school of abstraction to global attention. The booth featured works by two of the country’s leading practitioners of this school—G. R. Santosh and Biren De. The stunning, colour- and energy-filled canvases drew all eyes towards itself, making it the singularly most-visited booth in the section.