Search results for: 'modern p'

What wonder it must have been for the people in England to ‘see’ India for the first time, the exotica that they had only heard of until then! The artists who made this possible through their paintings and aquatints were the uncle-nephew duo of Thomas Daniell and William Daniell, whose magnum opus, Oriental Scenery, was the subject of this landmark exhibition at Drishyakala, a joint collaboration between DAG and the Archaeological Survey of India.

Diana Campbell is the Artistic Director of the Samdani Art Foundation, now in its 10th year, and chief curator of the prestigious Dhaka Art Summit, whose sixth edition starts on February 3, 2023. She spoke with the DAG Journal’s editorial team to discuss her own curatorial process and how she makes room for experimentation, and unpacks the intriguing thematic of this new edition: ‘flood’, or bonna.

DAG Museum’s annual festival ‘The City as a Museum’ attempts to explore the various archives, communities and artistic traditions that cohere around the life of a city. Put together, they tell different stories about the city across time and space, from the point of view of neighbourhoods, collections and institutions, but not just limited to those either.

In order to learn more about this unique programme that seeks to explore heritage outside the walls of a traditional gallery or museum, read on!

An extraordinary exhibition of paintings, prints, maps and other objects, curated by Giles Tillotson, that recounts a visual history of the Mysore Wars between the East India Company and Tipu Sultan, this DAG exhibition explores how the narrative might have changed 222 years after the siege of Seringapatnam. The images, based on the British view of the time, reflect changing perceptions and Indian views on this epic battle and its political and social fallouts. A highlight of the exhibition is a painting by Henry Singleton depicting The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun, among other stellar works, that will be seen in India for the first time. Alexander Allan Cpt. R. Frazer David Wilkie Edward Orme Henry Singleton J. B. Mauzaisse James Hunter Johann Peter Krafft John Smart Mather Brown Obadiah Sherratt Robert Hyde Colebrooke Robert Home Robert Ker Porter Thomas Stothard

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?

As a region that is home to many religions and cultures, South Asia has been a fertile ground for art that blends different styles, ideas, and influences. Conquest, migration, or friendly exchange of cultural ideas and values—be it in the visual arts, food, or politics—all played a part in shaping the region as a melting pot of civilisations. Explore artworks that showcase this syncretic legacy from DAG's museum collection—starting with the early encounters with European realism, the pan-Asian influences on the Bengal School, and beyond.

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.

DAG has been a pioneer in curating exhibitions that have historical significance. These have ranged from themes around different genres and art movements to artist retrospectives as well as engagements with forgotten masters. Most exhibitions are sourced from its own inventory and in recent years DAG has begun to explore eighteenth and nineteenth century art and artists in addition to its presence as a stakeholder of twentieth century art. Exhibitions are routinely organised at its galleries in New Delhi, Mumbai, and New York, as well as in collaboration with museums and other institutions. All exhibitions are accompanied by well researched and designed books, adding considerably to the documentation of Indian art history.

Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye and the tradition of Prahasan.

Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye and the tradition of Prahasan.

Feminist collective Samuho navigates the interplay between the interior and exterior lives of women at the cusp of nineteenth century reform movements through a performance-installation inspired by Shreepantha’s Keyabat Meye and the tradition of Prahasan.