When I visited the gala opening of JehangirSabavala’s well curated retrospective at the NGMA in Mumbai one winter evening in 2005, I came to witness, all at once, a life time of works by the octogenarian artist which I eventually reviewed.
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Whatever happened to the Bengal School? There is an extensive literature devoted to the development and apex of Orientalist art movement, which began around the turn of the last century and stretched into the 1920s, but very little significant analysis of how the movement“petered out” and why.
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Reversing the debate of ‘cultural subversion’ and instances of derivations of non-western artist from international avant-garde, BC Law in 1942 article, applauds the revival of such objects of Indian art in ‘Art in Industry’ exhibition that have been a source of inspiration and reverence to masses and business community of the west.
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Akbar Padamsee returned from Paris to Mumbai in 1954, after four years to have his first solo exhibition. On May 2, 1954, Padamsee was arrested under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code for not complying with the orders of the Vigilance Department of the CID to remove the two “obscene” paintings Lovers I and Lovers II from his exhibition.
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My father’s interest in ancient Indian scriptures - mythology, epics, legends and philosophy, began at a very early age. At home, his mother encouraged him and his brother, Kamal Kumar Mazumdar, to read and explore their native culture, its texts and literature.
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Satish Gujral is one of the rare artists who starting exhibiting in the early 50s and continues to do so today. He had his first show in Delhi at the Free Mason’s Gallery in 1952, and the latest show in 2009 at Cymroza in Mumbai.
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Historically, the cultures and processes of print are intrinsically related to values of literacy, democratisation of learning andmass consumption.
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He was one of the most significant painters of our age, yet he shunned the limelight. A reclusive master, who preferred the poetics of silence. Turning his gaze inwards, he sought a meditative space instead, expressing himself in the play of line, light and colour.
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This text is by Gieve Patel published in Swaminathan’s journal Contra’66. It is a review of ‘Two Decades of American Painting’, a show held in Delhi, in 1967.
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Dating back to 1954, this catalogue is truly a collector’s priceless item, the lead essay written by none other than the Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, himself.
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