Search results for: 'History of india and indian ne'

The midwestern city of Chicago hosts one of America’s most important art fairs—Expo Chicago—in which DAG participated in an attempt to introduce Indian moderns to the diaspora there as well as to art-lovers in general. To introduce art to this midwestern population, DAG picked on well-established names from the Indian art marquee. This included the National Treasure artist Jamini Roy whose works outside India are a rarity since they cannot be exported. Others included the Progressives F. N. Souza and M. F. Husain, New York-based printmakers Krishna Reddy and Zarina Hashmi (both now deceased) and artist Natvar Bhavsar, abstractionists Sohan Qadri and G. R. Santosh, a rare sculpture by Prodosh Das Gupta, and a body of other modernists representing the diverse range of works created by Indian artists in the twentieth century. A suite of small format watercolour landscapes by Bireswar Sen was a highlight of the booth. Avinash Chandra Bireswar Sen Chittaprosad F N Souza F N Souza G R Santosh Ganesh Pyne Jamini Roy K.S Kulkarni Krishna Reddy Laxman Pai M F Husain Madhvi Parekh Natvar Bhavsar Paritosh Sen Prodosh Das Gupta Rabin Mondal Sohan Qadri Zarina Hashmi

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The DAG booth at India Art Fair has always aspired to provide its thousands of visitors with their most unique art-viewing experience based on rarity, historicity, and quality, raising the bar each year with works of sterling importance in addressing the art history of the subcontinent.  Abanindranath Tagore, Allah Bux, Anonymous (Early Bengal), Dhanraj Bhagat Jamini Roy, Krishen Khanna, Ram Kumar, M. A. R. Chughtai, M. F. Husain, Madhvi Parekh, Nandalal Bose, Nirode Mazumdar, Prabhakar Barwe, S. K. Bakre, Sailoz Mookherjea, Shanti Dave, Sohan Qadri, Thomas Daniell, Raja Ravi Varma, Edwin Lord Weeks, F. N. Souza, M. V. Dhurandhar

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The Art of Santiniketan showcases the work of its four chief artists—Santiniketan’s founder, Rabindranath Tagore, its first principal and the architect of the Santiniketan pedagogy, Nandalal Bose, and his two illustrious students who went on to make a name for themselves as highly original and significant artists—Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij. Santiniketan was a path-breaking educational institution Rabindranath Tagore set up in rural Bengal in the early twentieth century, and the exhibition begins by examining its genesis in Tagore’s radical ideas of basing education in freedom and in the midst of nature. Benode Behari Mukherjee Nandalal Bose Rabindranath Tagore Ramkinkar Baij

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The mid-twentieth century saw a churn in the practice of art in India with a number of artists beginning to explore a genre that had swept the West with its absence of figuration in favour of abstraction. The non-representational began to gain traction as artists found within it a way to express themselves purely through colour as a potent tool to communicate emotions. Abstraction emphasised the relationship between originality and expression in ways that were complex, leading one to debate about the eventual goal of art. Ambadas, Krishna Reddy, Sohan Qadri, Zarina Hashmi, Rajendra Dhawan

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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.

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It is ironical that works by Tyeb Mehta, who did not attach much merit to the financial value of art, were the first by a living Indian artist to sell for more than Rs 1 crore, and, soon, for more than a million dollars, indicating a beginning of interest in Indian art in the international market. His works Celebration, Kali and Mahishasura marked the beginning of the boom in the Indian art market at the start of this century. Learn More

Continuing its theme of introducing Indian abstractionists at Art Dubai, DAG handpicked works by eight eminent abstract artists and juxtaposed them to bring into focus how brushwork and colour are imbued with emotion and can compel viewers to spend hours studying such works. The artists presented by DAG at Art Dubai 2018—Ambadas, Sohan Qadri, Natvar Bhavsar, Avinash Chandra, Rajendra Dhawan, Shanti Dave, Ram Kumar and S. H. Raza—worked in different styles but their use of vivid colours highlighted this somewhat neglected genre of art in India that has begun to enjoy a premium in recent years. These artists had their studios in different parts of the world—Copenhagen, Oslo, New York, Paris, London, New Delhi—but had one thing in common: they were all of Indian origin and had trained and begun their careers in India. AMBADAS SOHAN QADRI NATVAR BHAVSAR AVINASH CHANDRA SHANTI DAVE G. R. SANTOSH J. SWAMINATHAN RAM KUMAR JERAM PATEL RAJENDRA DHAWAN K. V. HARIDASAN

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An experiential learning and apprenticeship programme for high school students in collaboration with arts education organisations, offering them a first-hand experience of working in a museum, learning about the art and history, and translating their learnings to develop museum experiences for their peers.

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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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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).

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'Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art, Edition 2' opened on 11 February, featuring fifty artworks which shaped the trajectory of pre-modern and modern art in the country. As part of the exhibition, William Dalrymple reflects on the painting ‘Panorama of a Small British Station on the Ganges’. Commissioned by Major James Natheniel Rind and painted like a scientific record of a scenario, the composition evokes a transitional phase between an older Mughal ethos and the emerging world of the Company.

Join us for a talk by William Dalrymple on Indian Painting for the East India Company on Wednesday, 5th April 2023, 7pm at DAG, 22A Janpath Road, Windsor Place, New Delhi

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For the second year running at the India Art Fair, DAG built upon its theme with a second edition of ‘Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art’, on a scale as ambitious as the previous year. A portrait by Raja Ravi Varma was the highlight among the old masters, but a stunning painting by F. N. Souza—Man and Woman Laughing—stole the show. Once again, the lavish booth set new standards in terms of display, visitor experience, private lounges, and a souvenir and book store. Special lectures were organised at the booth, and a large number of walkthroughs were arranged for pre-booked groups. As in the previous edition, a large book was published on the displayed works, and a daily art newspaper was published for visitors to the fair. Avinash Chandra Nandalal Bose Chittaprosad F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh M. V. Dhurandhar J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy K. H. Ara M. F. Husain Ram Kumar S. H. Raza Rabindranath Tagore

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