curatorial note

India is shaped by layered histories, plural belief systems and a long tradition of cultural exchange. Across centuries, these encounters have produced a complex visual archive in which observation and imagination, documentation and invention often converge. Indian art evolved through continual processes of encounter, adaptation, negotiation and reinvention.

Inheritance & Imagination: 18th–21st Century Indian Art brings together works that trace these shifting modes of representation and artistic exchange. Beginning with William Daniell’s depiction of the hill fort of Bijaigarh in Uttar Pradesh, the selection moves through the Company School traditions of Agra and Calcutta, Early Bengal oils, Kalighat pats and the Bengal School, before turning to the experimentation and diverse trajectories of Indian modernism.

Together, the works reveal how inherited traditions and new ideas continually intersect, as artists engaged with questions of identity, politics, memory and modernity. Featuring works by artists including William Daniell, Sewak Ram, Asit Kumar Haldar, M. A. R. Chughtai, Chittaprosad, Rabin Mondal, Madhvi Parekh and others, the exhibition reflects the richness and plurality of India’s visual culture.