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How did the idea of Indian art come to be constructed over the last century and more? The painstaking work of collectors and curators went a long way towards establishing the history of art in India. In this article we highlight some of the most significant collectors of art from South Asia over the course of the twentieth century. Usually starting as personal collections, most of them would eventually donate their works to museums in India or abroad, allowing these rare works to be seen regularly by new generations of art enthusiasts across the world. Their collections, curated exhibitions and publications fashioned the canons of Indian modern and pre-modern art

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Art Lab by DAG’s Museums Programme is a pop-up art exhibition of facsimiles of works from the DAG Museum Collection that travels to schools and introduces students to modes of visual learning. After two successful iterations in CBSE and ICSE schools in Kolkata, Art Lab travelled to its first Bengali medium West Bengal Board school—Barisha Janakalyan Vidyapith for Girls. Through three days of workshops spread across two weeks, the students interacted with the artworks, learnt the basics of research, delved into historical material, and developed their own creative projects. Take a peek at some of the wonderful projects they curated as they took over the exhibition and made it their own.

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It was in the 1970s that the government of India declared nine artists as National Treasures, attesting to the significance of their contribution to the shaping of modern Indian art identity. ‘Navratna: Nine Gems of Indian Art’ was a unique opportunity to see seminal works by all the nine together, to understand the uniqueness of their collective contribution, at Drishyakala, a joint collaboration between DAG and the Archaeological Survey of India. Learn More

One of the most distinguished families in Bengal, the Tagores exercised unparalleled influence over the cultural landscape of the region. The Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), and two of his nephews, Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) and Abanindranath Tagore (1871 - 1951) were recognised as India’s National Art Treasure artists. Sunayani Devi (1875 -1962), their sister, is regarded as one of modern India’s first women painters known by name. Her lyrical paintings and embroideries often looked inward to an imagined world of fables and myths. At the turn of the twentieth century, we see Abanindranath emerging as the founder of the Bengal School as he envisioned a new Indian art that was free of colonial influence, rooted in pan-Asianism. Gaganendranath, on the other hand, was a prolific satirist and cartoonist, who imagined new forms and perspectives inspired by Cubism. Together they formed the influential Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1907, while Rabindranath’s school and university at Santiniketan would continue to shape modern art in Bengal for generations to come.

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The term ‘abstract’ has been loosely used, more so in the Indian context, where we have only a vague notion of what it implies. Even the slightest distortion in art is popularly referred to as abstraction. And while distortion ultimately results in abstraction, the two are at opposing ends of the visual pole as far as understanding the genre goes. Over several years, viewers have been guided almost by a gut instinct of what constitutes abstract art. And though one concedes that rigid compartments to demarcate genres are neither practical, nor desirable, some understanding of what constitutes abstract art is essential. A. M. Davierwalla Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Amitava Amrut Patel Asit Kumar Haldar Avinash Chandra Baburao Sadwelkar Benode Behari Mukherjee Bikash Bhattacharjee Bimal Dasgupta Biren De Bishamber Khanna Biswanath Mukerji Devayani Krishna Devraj Dakoji Dhanraj Bhagat Dharamnarayan Dasgupta F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Haloi H. A. Gade Hemanta Misra Himmat Shah J. Swaminathan Jeram Patel Jyoti Bhatt K. C. S. Paniker K. G. Subramanyan K. S. Kulkarni Krishna Reddy L. Munuswamy Laxman Pai Laxman Shrestha M. F. Husain Nasreen Mohamedi P.Khemraj P.T.Reddy Partha Pratim Deb Piloo Pochkhanawala Prabhakar Barwe Prabhakar Kolte Prokash Karmakar R. M. Palaniappan R. N. Pasricha Rabin Mondal Raghav Kaneria Ram Kumar S. G. Vasudev S. H. Raza S. K. Bakre S. R. Bhushan Sanat Kar Sankho Choudhuri Satish Gujral Shanti Dave Shobha Broota Sohan Qadri Somnath Hore Sunil Das Sunil Madhav Sen Tapan Ghosh V. S. Gaitonde V. Viswanadhan Vivan Sundaram Zarina Hashmi

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Painted in 2003 by Rameshwar Broota and titled A Child, the Youth, now Man, is bisected horizontally by a hyper-realistic finger, which partially covers a comparatively hazy vertical male torso. The evocative cruciform structure of this composition, possibly alluding to ideas of masculinity, corruption and persecution, also aides the artist in highlighting human vulnerability. There is no face visible here, only an unprotected body.

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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.

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A creative enquiry tool that explores the events leading up to and during the revolt of 1857.

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Curator Jesal Thacker and art writer Meera Menezes speak about Shanti Dave’s art practice and choice of medium that allowed several elements to come together in his encaustic paintings and layered watercolours.

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Are the histories of art and fashion distinct from each other? Even a cursory glimpse at the contemporary art landscape—on view during occasions such as the India Art Fair, 2023—tells us otherwise. Fabrics, textiles and weaving practices are being increasingly incorporated into the body of works produced by artists today. They bring with them a host of connotations, historical narratives and sensorial memories that working with other media does not. Uthra Rajgopal, a curator and collection adviser for museums, spoke with DAG briefly on the practice of collecting textiles for museums, their historical significance as artworks as well as trading commodities from South Asia, and how contemporary artists are responding to this complex colonial legacy through their own interventions.  

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In February, Paris' Centre Pompidou--a premier centre for modern art since its construction in 1977--mounted an extensive solo show looking back at S. H. Raza’s career in painting. It represents a historic moment for Indian modern art’s international story as it unfolded over the twentieth century, and also marked Raza's own symbolic return to the place where he stayed for most of his working life. The fertile post-independent period saw cross-cultural connections being forged by Indian artists in Europe and America on their own terms and this show is a testament to Raza’s evolving encounters with land and mythology. The curators, Catherine David and Diane Toubert, spoke to DAG highlighting some of the takeaways from this major retrospective.

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