Search results for: 'south Indian w'

The advent of abstraction is a defining moment in art history as we devise divisions between representational, figurative, and abstract art, with the need arising from this pivotal formal shift in the modern world. The term ‘figurative’ has come to represent an antithesis of sorts to the term abstract. One is representational of reality, the latter a derived (abstracted) representation or even non-representational (colour-field paintings for example).

When we launched the Silver Series in May 2020 as our attempt to stay engaged with art-lovers no longer able to visit our galleries, we were unsure of the response. But the feedback we received was heartening, and it was backed by commensurate sales to prove that the art-loving fraternity supported the initiative and gave it a resounding thumbs-up. J. Sultan Ali Altaf Amit Ambalal Amitava Anonymous (Early Bengal) Anonymous (Kalighat Pat) Anonymous (Portraiture) K. H. Ara Prabhakar Barwe Bikash Bhattacharjee Nikhil Biswas Nandalal Bose Eric Bowen Shobha Broota Sakti Burman Avinash Chandra Jogen Chowdhury Sunil Das Prodosh Das Gupta Shanti Dave Rajendra Dhawan M. V. Dhurandhar K. Laxma Goud Satish Gujral Zarina Hashmi K. K. Hebbar M. F. Husain George Keyt Krishen Khanna K. S. Kulkarni Ram Kumar Rabin Mondal S. Nandagopal Laxman Pai Gogi Saroj Pal Madhvi Parekh Jeram Patel Ganesh Pyne Sohan Qadri A. A. Raiba S. H. Raza P. T. Reddy Rekha Rodwittiya Jamini Roy G. R. Santosh Paritosh Sen F. N. Souza Anupam Sud Ramgopal Vijaivargiya

Henry Singleton’s The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun belongs to a genre known as history painting: the depiction of important historical events, usually on a large scale, as if they were playing out in front of one’s eyes. Author and parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor and art historian Giles Tillotson explain the lively imagination deployed in Singleton’s painting that depicts the British assault on Seringapatam and the killing of its ruler, Tipu Sultan—himself the source of so many stories that it was difficult to unravel the truth from the many falsities spun by the biased colonial administration and historians of the time.

G. R. Santosh created a hugely accomplished career without formal training in art. His abstract paintings made in the early 1960s had Kashmir as his muse, and often used encaustic and beeswax—a process he learned from Shanti Dave. Architect and designer Pinakin Patel shares his views about In the Snows of Kashmir, Santosh’s masterful painting with textural relief in a monochrome palette.

Sohan Qadri was truly a global artist whose travels and practice spanned India, its Himalayan neighbours, Africa, Europe and Canada. His paintings can be summed up as yantras that serve as visual meditation tools. Invocation – 27 is a vibrant sea of yellow ochre with a band of blue in the middle. A captivating work, Geeti Sen explains, the painting serves to offer viewers a profound experience of transformation and self-discovery.

When the Met-Breuer opened in New York, its very first exhibition was a retrospective of Nasreen Mohamedi. Nasreen’s work is regarded as extremely important in the context of abstraction with delicate lines marking her compositions with a strength that is as remarkable as it is astounding, altering the way we see the world. The artist preferred drawing and sometimes photography, as a result her canvases are extremely rare to find. Sasha Altaf tells us more in this film about a canvas painted by her in Bahrain in 1969.

Prabhakar Barwe’s Eighty-Five Safety Pins is a pioneering work that merges technology and traditional art. Created in 1991 using graphic design software on an Apple Macintosh, Barwe explored the concept of pixels, a hallmark of the digital era, while incorporating his signature enamel paint. This innovative approach reflects his curiosity about embracing the unknown future and reinterpreting it artistically. By abstracting the safety pin from its conventional form, Barwe invites viewers to reconsider its essence, offering an open-ended visual experience that challenges preconceived notions and encourages alternative perspectives. Art connoisseur Shireen Gandhy, a friend of the late artist, takes us behind the making of this extraordinary painting.

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.

S. H. Raza had begun to paint using oils, moving away from his impressionistic watercolours, on his way to winning the prestigious critics’ award in 1956. Just a year before, he completed a stunning painting of Parisian rooftops, revealing not a daylight scene but one of the night, only yellow lamplight from the streets dimly silhouetting the chimneys and sloping roofs. This period of Raza’s career is somewhat lesser known than his later, tantra-inspired works, as Ashok Vajpeyi and Aman Nath explain to us.

Did you know that the portrait painter Frank Brooks whose two trips to India won him commissions from the rulers of principalities in the Bombay Presidency, trained Raja Ravi Varma’s brother in the art of figure painting? For his second India voyage (1892-93), he was invited specially to paint the heads of the twenty-eight rulers of the Kathiawar Agency. The subject of this stunning portrait is Thakur Becharsinhji of Chuda, a state so small it did not even merit a gun salute for its ruler. Explore in detail with Kishore Singh, SVP, DAG.

The DAG Archives travel to schools and colleges for the first time with a new education programme—Archive Case Files. Follow the journey of these students as they work with a collection of World War I postcards, to learn more about the role of visual archives in the classroom.

A project idea on using artworks as prompts to write about the figures in the freedom movement marginalized in or left out of the history books.