Search results for: 'Indian Modern Art: A Visual History'

Few artists claim as rich and intriguing a legacy as M. V. Dhurandhar in the landscape of late 19th and early 20th century Indian art. His practice leaves us with challenging questions about encounters and exchanges with India's colonial past and the influence of Europeans in shaping the evolution of painting. This exhibition revisits Dhurandhar's vast oeuvre through DAG's extensive collection of his paintings, archival material and ephemera, in an attempt to understand the socio-cultural context of his emergence, and to re-examine his influence on institutional and commercial art in the country.

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Join Tapati Guha-Thakurta for a museum visit and presentation as we explore the beginnings of the colonial traditions of art and design in India through the twin histories of the Indian Museum and the Government College of Art and Craft.

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Ramkinkar Baij is rightfully described as India’s first modernist sculptor for his pathbreaking use of cement and laterite as material, his choice of subjects and scale in public art projects, and his unconventional development of ideas.

The Poet is an abstract portrait of Rabindranath Tagore, imagined through negative spaces, concaves and convexes forming the eyes in a hollowed head, a masterclass in Baij’s cubist vocabulary. The portrait shared almost no physical attributes with the subject, instead focusing on distorting Tagore’s visage to give us insights into the state of his mind.

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As one of India’s most well-known artists, Tyeb Mehta still commands our attention for his commitment to experimentation. His ‘Diagonal series’ established him as a dynamic figure within the world of modern art, but how did this diagonal method come to be an important tool of composition in the last century? It all started with the invention of another compoitional tool called the 'rule of thirds'. Read below as we explore the origins of this artistic tool and see how it has evolved over time.

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Shobha Broota’s pictorial interpretation of the resonance of classical Indian ragas forms the essence of her celebrated style in which she conveys their subtle variations through minimal use of colours. Born in 1943 in New Delhi in an artistic family that inspired her to study art, Broota obtained a diploma in painting from College of Art, New Delhi, in 1964. Learn More

One of the last proponents of the Bengal School, Sanat Kumar Chatterjee was born in 1935 in Lucknow, and grew up in various cities of British India as his father had a transferable job with Indian Railways. Encouraged by his parents, he obtained a diploma in fine arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Lucknow, in 1960. Learn More

Known for establishing the multi-arts complex, Bharat Bhavan, in Bhopal, and for foregrounding tribal art on the Indian art horizon, Jagdish Swaminathan took up the arts professionally later in life, despite an early aptitude towards drawing and painting. Learn More

DAG Museums in collaboration with the Indian Museum returns with the second edition of 'Play Fair,' a two-day carnival of games inspired by the art and artists from the DAG collection. Spread over two days on the splendid lawns of the memorial, this lusory experience is an invitation to immerse yourself in Bengal art, culminating with performance by Sangram Mukhopadhyay. 

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DAG, in collaboration with the Indian Museum, presents a carnival of games inspired by the artists and art from the DAG collection. Spread over two days on the magnificent lawns of the museum, 'Play Fair' is an invitation to immerse yourself in Bengal art, ending with an after hours concert by The Big Other.

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Born in Dacca (now Dhaka) in present-day Bangladesh, Suhas Roy had a difficult childhood after the early demise of his father. Yet, he pursued his passion for the arts with the support of his mother and studied at Indian College of Arts and Draughtsmanship, Calcutta, where he would eventually return as college principal. Learn More

Born into a family of artists in Lahore on 21 September 1897, M. Abdur Rahman Chughtai learnt to draw from his father, Mia Karim Baksh. He joined Mayo School of Art in Lahore in 1911, where Samarendranath Gupta, a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, was vice-principal. He obtained a diploma in photo lithography from Mayo School in 1914, where he went on to become the head instructor in chromo-lithography. He honed his printmaking skills during visits to London in the mid-1930s and exhibited his works across Europe; he also exhibited with Indian Society of Oriental Art in Calcutta around this time. Learn More