Search results for: 'MADRAS ART'

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.

Radha is painted as a queen in this Early Bengal oil painting, surrounded by her fellow Gopis (cowherds and companions) and Krishna—her divine consort and an incarnation of one of the Hindu trinity—dressed as a sentinel. She sits on her royal throne amid a forest landscape, perhaps recalling her identification as Vrindavaneshwari (goddess of Vrindavan). Going by the small but remarkable details of the jewellery, we can guess that it is the work of an artist trained in the miniature tradition. But does the painting hide other possible secrets?

The wash technique has come to be associated in India with the art of the Bengal School, but the story of its origins in India takes us back to an era of rich cultural exchanges. In the early twentieth century artists like Abanindranath Tagore were trying to imagine a pan-Asian cultural identity, and they turned for inspiration to traditions from across Persia to Japan. Rabindranath Tagore's friendship with Okakura Kakuzō occasioned the arrival of several Japanese artists in Kolkata, such as Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunsō and Katsuta Shōkin. While the latter found inspiration in the Hindu epics, artists in Bengal adapted techniques that were used by the Japanese, such as the wash technique or the subtle use of ink and brush. Since then, the wash technique has been interpreted widely by individual artists, offering an ethereal quality of light to their works, or, in some cases, like for Gaganendranath Tagore and Prosanto Roy, new possibilities of painting in various shades of darkness.

A visit to Taherpur, Nadia for a workshop on the practices and genealogies of Sora-making with artists Ratan Paul and Gopal Paul, and artist-writer Dipankar Parui. 

An exhibition and workshop drawing from Cartoon Dol’s archives of Bengal’s caricature art, on confronting social-political issues through humour and satire, with a closing performance by Chandrabindoo. 

An exhibition and workshop drawing from Cartoon Dol’s archives of Bengal’s caricature art, on confronting social-political issues through humour and satire, with a closing performance by Chandrabindoo. 

An exploration of the instrument by tabla artists, Asif Khan and Rohen Bose, followed by a concert where they are joined by Alla Rakha Kalawant on the sarangi at the Jorasanko Thakur Dalan. 

A presentation and workshop with artist Hiran Mitra to examine intersecting ideas of montage-collage-assemblage in art-making.

A visit to the chilekotha studio of contemporary artist Ushnish Mukhopadhyay to witness his experiments with assemblage through fragmented images and disassociated objects.

A sketching and reading session with art historian Debdutta Gupta on the artistic practice of assemblage centred on the text Khuddur Jatra by Abanindranath Tagore.