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Indian Blue

Indian Blue

Indian Blue

Gallery Exhibition

Indian Blue

From Realism to Abstraction

New Delhi: The Claridges, 10 October – 13 December 2021

The colours we see around us are a complex network of visual signifiers. Like spoken dialects, each colour contains multiple—at times conflicting—meanings that are moulded by a universal base and many regional variances.

Blue is a colour that is fundamentally Indian. It is the fourth colour of the Indian flag, used to paint the wheel at its centre. The colour has symbolised power through the ages. Ancient royalty dressed in blue silk, as did Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his iconic power-suit; and now blue appears on the flags of Dalit rights activists. In Natyashastra, the ancient treatise on aesthetics, blue is the colour of the Shringara rasa, the most important of the three emotive states, which invokes purity, love and beauty. Because it is the colour of the cosmos and water, different Indian religions have ascribed mystical qualities to it.

Blue has been a constant presence in Indian art. During the transition from colonial-era naturalism to post-Independence abstraction, it evolved from a representational pigment to having deep metaphorical value. ‘Indian Blue: From Realism to Abstraction’ traces how Indian modernists first ‘raised’ themselves to the colonial ideal and then successfully broke away from it. The exhibition is a journey mapping the many developments in landscape and figurative art that ultimately leads into abstraction.

This exercise to explore the history of the colour blue was prompted by its overarching quality. In the Indian context, blue goes much beyond the traditional emotions of sadness and death attached to it. It is divine, regal and striking.

Artists

A. A. Almelkar

A. H. Müller

A. P. Santhanraj

Abalal Rahiman

Abanindranath Tagore

Ahmed Amir

Altaf

Ambadas

Amit Ambalal

Amitava

Anupam Sud

Avinash Chandra

Benode Behari Mukherjee

Bijan Chowdhury

Biren De

Bireswar Sen

Bishamber Khanna

Bishnupada Roy Chowdhury

Chittaprosad

D. C. Joglekar

D. P. Roy Chowdhury

Dattatraya Apte

Devayani Krishna

Devraj Dakoji

Dharmanarayan Dasgupta

F. N. Souza

G. R. Iranna

G. R. Santosh

G. S. Haldankar

Ganesh Haloi

Gobardhan Ash

Gogi Saroj Pal

Hemanta Misra

Himmat Shah

Indra Dugar

Indu Rakshit

J. P. Gonsalves

J. Sultan Ali

Jamini Roy

Jeram Patel

Jogen Chowdhury

Jyoti Bhatt

K. C. S. Paniker

K. K. Hebbar

K. Laxma Goud

K. S. Kulkarni

Kanwal Krishna

Kavita Nayar

Kavita Nayar

Krishna Reddy

Lalit Mohan Sen

Laxman Pai

M. F. Husain

M. K. Parandekar

M. R. Acharaker

M. S. Joshi

Madhvi Parekh

Manu Parekh

Nand Katyal

Nandalal Bose

Natvar Bhavsar

Navjot

Nicholas Roerich

Nikhil Biswas

Om Prakash

P. Khemraj

Paramjit Singh

Paresh Maity

Paritosh Sen

Partha Pratim Deb

Prabhakar Barwe

Prokash Karmakar

Rabin Mondal

Radha Charan Bagchi

Ramendranath Chakravorty

Ramgopal Vijaivargiya

Ramkinkar Baij

Ranen Ayan Dutta

S. H. Raza

S. K. Bakre

S. L. Haldankar

Sanat Chatterjee

Sanat Kar

Sankho Chaudhuri

Satish Gujral

Shanti Dave

Shobha Broota

Somnath Hore

Sudhir Ranjan Khastgir

Sunayani Devi

Sunil Das

V. B. Pathare

Vasundhara Tewari Broota

Vivan Sundaram

Walter Langhammer

'The blue from Roerich’s Blue Cliff to Paniker’s blue of the river in an untitled work; to a rare abstract by Roy that is a far-fetch from his usual style — DAG’s curation of this series goes beyond the colour and delves into a rich background of symbolism and the legacy the colour encapsulated for the artists'

– Telegraph, India

exhibition highlights

Exhibition and Events