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Iconic

Iconic

Iconic

Gallery Exhibition

Iconic

Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art

Mumbai: Gallery 1 & 2, The Taj Mahal Palace
Apollo Bunder Road, Colaba
20 March – 31 July 2022

'Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art' is an exhibition specially curated to commemorate the opening of DAG’s new galleries at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. The pathbreaking exhibition of some of the finest nineteenth and twentieth century art related to India consists of fifty outstanding works, each of them exceptional for their historicity, rarity, and quality. Established in 1993, DAG has created an enviable reputation over the decades for its collection and exhibitions of twentieth century art. But with 'Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art', it draws attention to its growing strength in nineteenth century art, a new area that it has now committed itself to with a growing inventory of Western artists who travelled to India to paint, as well as Indian artists whose identities have remained unknown for lack of adequate documentation. The earliest work in this exhibition, dated 1805-10, is of one of the largest recorded Company Paintings, and concludes with a rare sculpture cast as recently as 2021 in Indonesia.

The two centuries of art practice in between are represented by European artists Edwin Lord Weeks, Marius Bauer, Frank Brooks, unknown artists of pre-modern Indian art, as well as masters from the Indian modern pantheon representing the Bengal School, the Progressives, and other movements and collectives. A painting by Nicholas Roerich, Banner of Peace, was created by the Russian artist after moving to the Himalayas in India to illustrate the historic Roerich Peace Pact signed by America and twenty Latin American countries to safeguard cultural and artistic treasures around the world.

The genres range from the landscape to portraiture, history paintings, abstracts as well as tantra-based art, the styles including the academic, impressionistic, expressionistic to the cubist as well as mythological and sacred. Besides paintings on canvas and paper, there are a number of sculptures that range from the very small to arguably the largest modern sculpture in a private collection. This display of definitive iconic masterpieces stands out as the most ambitious exhibition of art curated in India by DAG.

Artists

A. Ramachandran

Adi Davierwalla

Ambadas

Avinash Chandra

Bikash Bhattacharjee

Dhanraj Bhagat

Early Bengal Oils

Edwin Lord Weeks

F. N. Souza

Frank Brooks

G. R. Santosh

Ganesh Haloi

J. Sultan Ali

J. Swaminathan

Jamini Roy

Jeram Patel

Jogen Chowdhury

K. C. S. Paniker

K. G. Subramanyan

K. K. Hebbar

K. Laxma Goud

K. S. Radhakrishnan

Krishen Khanna

Laxman Pai

M. A. R. Chughtai

M. F. Husain

M. V. Dhurandhar

Madhvi Parekh

Marius Bauer

Natvar Bhavsar

Nicholas Roerich

Nikhil Biswas

Paritosh Sen

Prabhakar Barwe

Rabin Mondal

Rabindranath Tagore

Rajendra Dhawan

Ram Kumar

Rameshwar Broota

Ramgopal Vijaivargiya

Ramkinkar Baij

Ranbir Singh Kaleka

Satish Gujral

Shanti Dave

Sohan Qadri

Stefan Norblin

Studio of Raja Ravi Varma

Sunil Das

Tyeb Mehta

Unknown Agra Artist (Company Painting)

‘Unless an artist is being illustrative, most of their work is autobiographical; you are making yourself visible. Your work reflects your experiences, inheritance and your universe’

– Arpita Singh

exhibition highlights

Exhibition and Events