Search results for: 'school of the alternative'

Kshitindranath Majumdar, born on July 31, 1891, in Jagtai village of Murshidabad in West Bengal, is often referred to as a saint-artist who considered art as a form of devotion. Strongly influenced by Vaishnavism as propounded by the fifteenth century saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Majumdar trained in hymn singing, interpreted legends from Indian epics, and acted in productions of the theatre group owned by his father. Learn More

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.

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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.

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At the turn of the twentieth century, Abanindranath Tagore asked himself if the emerging artists of modern India should continue to paint in the manner of their European colonizers; or was there a new path waiting to be forged? His answers led him to envision a pan-Asian cultural identity, spanning traditions from Persia to Japan, and culminating in a ‘new “Indian” art.’ Regarded as the founder of the Bengal School, Abanindranath left an unparalleled legacy both in terms of his own diverse body of work, and through his pupils, like Nandalal Bose, who shaped the contours of art across the subcontinent in the twentieth century.

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March to Freedom re-interprets the well-known story of the Indian freedom struggle and anticolonial movement through works of art and some historic artefacts. Drawn from the collections of DAG, they range from eighteenth and nineteenth century European paintings and prints, to lesser known works by Indian artists that merit greater recognition, alongside some iconic pieces. Rather than following the usual chronological path, the story is structured around eight themes. Each represents one arena, or stage, on which the anti-colonial struggle took place, to expand the story beyond politics, politicians, and battles (which also feature). Conceived to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, this visual journey seeks to do more. A. A. Raiba Asit Kumar Haldar Alfred Crowdy Lovett Atul Bose Baburao Sadwelkar Bijan Chowdhury Biren De C. Stanfield Charles D’Oyly Charles Shepherd Charles Walter D’Oyly Chintamoni Kar Chittaprosad Dattatraya Apte David Gould Green Devayani Krishna D. Newsome Edward Orme Gobardhan Ash Gopal Ghose G. Tait Haren Das Hemanta Misra Henri Cartier-Bresson Henry Martens Henry Salt Henry Singleton Jacob Epstein James Hunter James Fraser John Gantz John Jabez Edwin Mayall K. K. Hebbar Kanwal Krishna K. C. S. Paniker K. G. Subramanyan K. Sreenivasulu K. S. Kulkarni Laxman Pai M. Eyre Proudman M. K. Parandekar M. S. Morgan Nemai Ghosh N. R. Sardesai Prahlad Anant Dhond Paritosh Sen Prokash Karmakar P. T. Reddy Radha Charan Bagchi Robert Dodd R. Vijay Satish Gujral Satish Sinha S. Dhanapal Stella Brown Sudhir Khastgir Sushil Chandra Sen Sunil Das Sunil Madhav Sen Thomas Anbury Thomas Daniell Thomas Jones Barker V. A. Mali V. B. Pathare V. Veevers William Daniell William Hodges Anonymous Artists Learn More

The exhibition brings together important works of art spanning a wide range of genres, forms, periods and styles. They are grouped by genre and each thematic arrangement features a select collection of artworks that are milestones in Indian modernism, as well as in the development of the artistic language of several of the participating artists. A. A. Raiba Abalall Rahiman Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Amitava Avinash Chandra B. C. Sanyal B. N. Arya Baburao Painter Benode Behari Mukherjee Bikash Bhattacharjee Bipin Behari Goswami Biren De Chittaprosad Devyani Krishna Dharamnarayan Dasgupta Early Bengal (Anonymous) F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Haloi Ganesh Pyne George Keyt Gieve Patel Gogi Saroj Pal Gopal Ghose H. A. Gade Hemanta Misra Himmat Shah Indra Dugar Indu Rakshit J. P. Gangooly J. Sultan Ali Jamini Roy Jeram Patel K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. Laxma Goud Kshitindranath Majumdar Laxman Pai M. F. Husain M. F. Pithawalla M. V. Dhurandhar Manu Parekh Mohan Samant N. R. Sardesai Nandalal Bose Nikhil Biswas P. Khemraj P. S. Chander Sheker P. T. Reddy P. V. Janakiram Paritosh Sen Pestonji E. Bomanji Prabhakar Barwe Prodosh Das Gupta Prokash Karmakar Rabin Mondal Rabindranath Tagore Radha Charan Bagchi Ram Kumar Ravi Varma School (Anonymous) S. Dhanapal S. G. Thakur Singh S. H. Raza S. K. Bakre Satish Gujral Shanti Dave Shiavax Chavda Shyamal Dutta Ray Sohan Qadri Sunil Das Surendran Nair Tyeb Mehta V. Nageshkar Vivan Sundaram

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Calcutta, flourishing with commerce and maritime trade during the nineteenth century, was regarded as the ‘second city’ of the British Empire. People thronged there in large numbers to make a livelihood, or in holy pilgrimage, seeking blessings at the Kali temple at Kalighat that had been re-built in 1809. Annada Prasad Bagchi Bamapada Banerjee B. C. Law C. W. Lawrie Kshetradas Chitrakar Panchanan Karmakar Madhav Chandra Das Ramadhan Swarnakar Ganganarayan Ghosh Nritya Lal Datta Press Kristohurry Das Chorebagan Art Studio Kansaripara Art Studio Calcutta Jubilee Art Studio Bat-tala

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By the end of the century, however, the scene was changing, and infrastructure—following the economic reforms in 1991—began to improve, creating an interest in collecting art. Twentieth century Indian modern art has since been at the forefront of collecting and investing in Indian art, and DAG, which has the largest private collection of Indian art has a marked focus on this period of Indian art. Ambadas F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh George Keyt Jamini Roy K. K. Hebbar Kanwal Krishna Laxman Pai M. F. Husain M. F. Pithawalla M. V. Dhurandhar Madhvi Parekh Nandalal Bose Nemai Ghosh Prokash Karmakar Rabin Mondal

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Any new exhibition brings with it a frisson of excitement, but by any measure India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art has been extra special. Most art lovers take Indian modernism for granted—but how many can truly claim to know what it really means. For too many years, the term has been loosely used, with very little awareness of what it includes, or omits. What the West understands and takes as a given is something that in India still remains a mystery, perhaps because art in India cannot strictly be viewed from the same trope as Western art. Perhaps this is true of most countries, but it is especially true of colonised nations where new engagements with art in the West were imposed without the benefit of growing their own local practices organically. This hybrid custom developed at various levels, which makes it exciting when viewed from some distance, but also imposes a challenge. Therefore the question: What does modernism in Indian art imply? Akbar Padamsee Ambadas Anjolie Ela Menon Avinash Chandra B. Prabha Bikash Bhattacharjee Bimal Dasgupta Biren De Dhanraj Bhagat Dharamnarayan Dasgupta F. N. Souza G. R. Santosh Ganesh Haloi Ganesh Pyne George Keyt Gieve Patel H.A. Gade Himmat Shah J. Sultan Ali J. Swaminathan Jehangir Sabavala Jeram Patel Jogen Chowdhury K. G. Subramanyan K. H. Ara K. K. Hebbar K. S. Kulkarni Krishen Khanna Laxman Goud Laxman Pai M. F. Husain Manjit Bawa P. Khemraj P.T. Reddy Rabin Mondal Ram Kumar S. K. Bakre S.H. Raza Sakti Burman Sohan Qadri Somnath Hore Sunil Das

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We might think of landscape as the most obvious and natural subject for painting. What could be simpler than an artistic response to the world of nature? And yet, civilisations have not always produced landscape paintings. Landscape as an independent genre—with the primary focus not on action but on scenery—was first championed by the Chinese in the ninth century. It was introduced into English art only in the eighteenth century. Elements of nature have appeared in Indian art since the murals of Ajanta, but in supporting roles, in images that are primarily sacred or courtly. Pure landscape painting arose in India only in the nineteenth century, in response to colonial practice. A A ALMELKAR AVINASH CHANDRA BABURAO SADWELKAR BHUNATH MUKERJEE BIJAN CHOUDHARY BIRESWAR SEN CHITTAPROSAD DEVRAJ DAKOJI DEVYANI KRISHNA DHARAMANARAYAN DASGUPTA GANESH HALOI GOBARDHAN ASH HAREN DAS K. K. HEBBAR KANWAL KRISHNA KISORY ROY M. K. PARANDEKAR M. V. DHURANDHAR MANISHI DEY MUKUL DEY New Found Lands NIKHIL BISWAS PESTONJI E BOMANJI PRAN KISHAN PAUL RABIN MONDAL RAMENDRANATH CHAKRAVORTY RAMKINKAR BAIJ SAKTI BURMAN SUNIL DAS THOMAS DANIELL WILLIAM HODGES WILLIAM PARKER

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