7.
By mid and late nineteenth century, Art schools were established in major cities like Lahore,
Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bombay (now Mumbai) and Madras (now Chennai).
These Arts School promoted traditional Indian Craft and academic and Naturalist Art.
The Bengal School which had gained popularity earlier now came to be called conservative.
Gaganendranath and poet–painter Rabindranath, thus, knew
about the international trends of Cubism and Expressionism,
They thought that art need not copy the world but create its own
world out of forms, lines and colour patches.
Many artists started experimenting with art in order to define
new trends.
The Indo-European art could not get popularity, so the artists left
painting and started doing other jobs for a livelihood.
Raja Ravi Varma was born and painted Indian mythological
themes in European style.
His technique and means were all European.
His contribution to Indian art is immense.
His paintings are realistic and his oleographs of gods and
goddesses are worshiped in millions of homes, even today.
Opposed with the communist ideology, a group of artists such as Francis Newton Souza, M F
Hussain, K. H. Ara, S. A. Bakre, H. A. Gade and S. H. Raza. etc.
Established an organization named ‘Progressive Artists Group' (PAG).
The artists of that group declined the style of the Bengal art and in place of that welcomed the
International Modern Art'.
Many artists introduced new standards in Art some notable artists among them are Mukul Dey,
Manishi Dey, Ramkumar, Taiyyab Mehta, Akbar Padamji, Prokash Karmokar and Narayan
Ramchandran etc.
I
Paintings: Artists:
Rama Vanquishing the Pride of the Ocean Raja Ravi Verma
Mother Teresa [Link]
Mother and Child Jamini Roy
Haldi Grinders Amrita Sher Gill
Title of the painting- Rama Vanquishing the Pride of the Ocean
Painter- Raja Ravi Varma
Period- Modern
Medium: Oil Colour On Canvas
Circa: 19th Century
Collection: Chitrashala, Mysore, Karnataka
Subject Matter:
This painting is based on a scene from the Valmiki Ramayana.
Composition:
This painting is based on a scene from the Valmiki Ramayana.
This is a Puranic (ancient mythological stories) theme painted by
Raja Ravi Varma.
He was one of the first Indian painters to use oil paint and master
the art of lithographic reproduction for mythological subject.
He used in this painting the style of academic realism.
In this scene Rama needs to build a bridge in southern India to the
island of Lanka for his army to cross the ocean.
Varuna (God of Ocean) Not giving way to reach Lanka to Rama.
Rama In angered stands to shoot his fiery arrow into the ocean.
The whole composition is well-balanced.
Dark colours are used. European effect is quite visible in this painting.
Artist- Raja Ravi Varma(1848-1906 A.D.):
Raja Ravi Varma was a self-made artist who is known for introducing oil on canvas
in India.
He copied their work as oleographs and were sold in market and entered people’s
homes as calendar images.
He was born on April 29, 1848, in a small village of Kerala in a royal family.
In age of 14, he was sent to present three miniature paintings to the Maharaja of
Travancore.
Maharaja recognized his talent and let him learn from a palace painter, Rama
Swami Naidu. Later, he learnt European art from Theodor Jenson, a British painter.
He painted Indian themes of Mahabharata and Ramayana in European style.
He was disliked by critics for using models to paint deities.
His other well-Known Paintings:
Sri Krishna, Harishchandra, Shukeshi, Ravana and Jatayu, the victory over Inderjit, Indian fruit seller.
Varma also painted Release of Ahalya, Rama Breaking the Sacred Bow of Siva before his Marriage to Sita,
Rama, Sita and Laksmana Crossing the Saryu, Ravana abducting Sita and Opposed by Jatayu, Sita in
Ashoka Grove, The Coronation of Rama, etc
Title of the painting- Mother Teresa
Painter- M.F. Hussain
Period- Modern
Medium: Oil and Acrylic Colour on Canvas
Circa: 1980 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art,
New Delhi.
Subject Matter:
This painting from the series Mother
Teresa by Hussain. Hussain has given a tribute to
the lady Mother Teresa, who served the poor and
the homeless throughout her life.
Composition:
The figure of the faceless Mother appears several times, each time holding a baby with a lot of attention
given to the hand.
This speaks of the artist’s familiarity with European art, especially, the famous sculpture of Italian
Renaissance master, Michelangelo’s Pieta or Byzantine Churches.
The central figure of the seated Mother has a grown up man lying on her lap horizontally.
Painting looks like a collage of paper cutouts.
Hussain give us clues to understand the story behind this for making faceless figures.
Artist M.F. Hussain(1915-2011 A.D.):
Maqbool Fida Hussain was born in Madhya Pradesh on September 17, 1915.
Schooling from Indore.
He got admitted to an art college in Bombay, but had to drop out due to
shortage of money.
He then started painting posters for the Indian cinema.
His creation 'Sunehera Sansar' was exhibited in Bombay in 1947after which he
gained a lot of popularity.
He was deeply influenced by the Basholi School and European artists like
Picasso and Juan Gris.
His execution is modern but themes are traditional.
His paintings on Ramayana and Mahabharata, expressing violence and injustice
are world famous.
He was awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.
MF Hussain also known as Pablo Picasso of India.
Title of the painting- Mother and Child
Painter- Jamini roy
Period- Modern
Medium: Water colour in Paper
Circa: 1939 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Subject Matter:
In this painting, a mother and her child unconditional love has
shown with simplification.
Composition:
In this painting, a mother and her child are rendered with bold
simplifications and thick outlines with sweeping brush strokes.
Figures are coloured in dull yellow and brick-red background.
The two-dimensional nature of the painting is derived from pat
paintings and his search for simplicity and pure form is visible.
Roy borrowed volume, rhythm, decorative clarity and
instrumentality of the pat in his artworks.
To achieve and learn the purity of the pat, he first made many
monochrome brush drawings, and then, gradually, moved to basic
seven colours applied with tempera.
Indian red, yellow ocher, cadmium green, vermilion, charcoal gray,
cobalt blue and white made from organic material.
Artist- Jamini Roy (1887-1942 A.D.):
Jamini Roy was born in April, 1887 in a village the district of Bankura in
WestBengal.
The richness and culture of village life contributed greatly to the cultural
development of his later life.
He travelled to the countryside of Bengal to collect folk paintings (pats) and
learn from folk artisans.
From 1925 he started painting in the style of the ‘Patuas’ of Kalighat.
His paintings won international fame after exhibitions in London in 1946 and
in New York in 1953.
He was a lone traveler and art to him was a mission.
He was called the father of the folk renaissance in India.
Title of the painting- Haldi Grinders
Painter- Amrita Sher Gill
Period- Modern
Medium: Oil Colour On Canvas
Circa : 1940 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Subject Matter:
Depicting Indian women busy in a traditional activity of grinding dry turmeric.
Composition:
Amrita Sher-Gil painted Haldi Grinder in 1940.
This was the time when she was seeking inspiration from India’s idyllic rural scene.
The focus of this Amrita’s painting is intended for a showcase on the burden life of women in India.
Depicting Indian women busy in a traditional activity of grinding dry turmeric, had to be painted in Indian
style.
Here in this painting three women are portrayed in the centre of the picture plane with yellow, white and
red saris, placed within the background of nature.
The women and trees are painted as flat shapes.
Sher-Gil not given any depth in the landscape and prefers a semi-abstract pattern as a modern artist.
Artist- Amrita Sher Gill (1913-1941 A.D.):
Amrita Sher Gil was born in Budapest, Hungary on January 30, 1913. AD.
Hungarian mother and a scholarly Indian father of a Shikh Royal family.
The family returned to India after the Ist World War in 1921.
She learned painting from ‘Ecole nationale’ the famous art school in France.
After spending about six year in Europe, she longed to come back to India.
From 1935 onward after she came back to India till her death at the age of 28, in 1941.
She produced about 40 paintings in oil which are considered as masterly
creations of Amrita Sher Gil.
II
Graphic Prints is newly developed art forms based on the lines which are engraved or etched on a smooth
hard surface whether it is made of wood, metal, hard paper or any other materials and get a required
shape or picture through the Graphic Art printmaking process.
Graphic-Prints: Artists:
Children Somnath Hore
Devi Jyoti Bhatt
Of Walls Anupam Sud
Man, Woman and Tree [Link] Goud
Title of the Graphic Prints- Children
Artist - Somnath Hore
Period- Modern
Medium: Copper Plate
Technique: Etching and Aquatint
Circa : 1958 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Subject Matter:
This print talks about a drawing that shows how a famine in 1943
affected children.
Composition:
In this etching, images of children were taken from the experience of
the famine of 1943, which was etched in his memory.
This is a close-knit composition with five standing figures, having no
background, perspective or surrounding situation as the figures are talking to themselves.
The figures are linear, each with a skeletal anatomy, ill humour and ribcage with a helpless expression.
Supporting a huge skull, with a small face, the whole body is seen resting on two stick-like legs.
The bone structure just beneath the skin renders the effect of malnutrition on the people.
It creates narrative quality in the picture without taking recourse to placing the figures in a situation of
supporting visual data, following reductionist and simplification method.
These children represent the most vulnerable section of the society.
Artist- Somnath Hore (1921-2006):
Hore was born in Chittagong, in Bangladesh, and was a self-taught artist.
He had mastery over different modes of expressions in drawing, printmaking and
sculpting.
He was greatly affected by the Bengal famine of 1943 and started making line
drawings of famine-stricken people.
His early sketches and drawings were spot and life drawings of hapless victims of the famine, suffering and
dying peasants, sick and infirm destitute, and portraits of men, women, children and animals.
Somanth Hore’s some other artworks include Peasants’ Meeting, Wounded Animal, The Child, Mother with
Child and the Unclad Beggar Family etc.
Title of the Graphic Prints- Devi
Artist- Jyoti Bhatt
Period- Modern
Medium: Copper Plate
Technique: Etching and Aquatint
Circa : 1970 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Subject Matter:
The subject matter of this print is a traditional depiction of the goddess
Devi is combined with Tantric philosophy and folk patterns.
Composition:
In this print, pictorial image of Devi is re-cast and re-Summarizes with
a linear drawing of the frontal face of a woman, folk motifs and patterns.
The portrait of Devi is centrally placed as an iconic image.
The two-dimensionality of words and motifs around the portrait expresses the Tantric philosophy.
In this print Awakening of Kundalini has been shown.
The term "Kundalini" is derived from Sanskrit and means "coiled" or "snake-like.", which is almost described
in many Hindu religious books and knowledge of Tantra.
waking up the ability to grow as a person and look deep within oneself.
understanding the world as a mix of active and still forces, representing the principles of Shakti.
Artist- Jyoti Bhatt or Jyotindra Manshankar Bhatt born 12 march 1934:
Jyoti Bhatt was born in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, in 1934.
He, having taken a diploma in Fine Art and postgraduate degree from M.S. University,
Baroda, got fame as a successful graphic printer and famous photographer.
He was very much impressed with Picasso and Ben Nicholson.
His mentor K. G. Subramanyan.
He carved out an art language based on folk traditions and popular practices.
He brings together many visual elements into the composite narrative.
Bhatt also made artworks like Kalpvruksha, Self-Portrait, Forgotten Monuments, Sita’s Parrot, Still Life with
Two Lamps, Scattered Image under the Warm Sky, Tirthankara, etc.
Title of the Graphic Prints- Of Walls
Artist- Anupam Sud
Period- Modern
Medium: Paper
Technique: Lithograph
Circa: 1982 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Subject Matter:
This graphic print portrays a faceless woman,
symbolizing societal barriers and inequality and
protests against caste, religion and status-based
walls.
Composition:
This is an etching made from zinc plate and printed on paper made by Anupam Sud in 1982.
In this graphic print an interesting form of a woman by hollowing out the face.
The absence of face gives it a serious and sad expression.
The painting depicts the figure of a lonely woman seated on the pavement (footpath) before a dilapidated
(damaged) wall.
In the foreground, we only get a glimpse of the lower part of a poor man sleeping on the ground.
Contrasting with the clothed woman, and adds to the sadness of the print.
The print is a powerfully protested by the artist against society erecting such walls on the basis of caste,
religion and status.
Artist- Anupam Sud (born in 1944):
Anupam Sud is one of the finest intaglio Indian printmakers of the modern era, born
in 1944, in Hoshiarpur (Punjab).
She had studied printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College,
London, in the early 1970s.
When she returned to India, she was drawn to its everyday reality.
Apart from her deep interest in social problems faced by people, belonging to
marginalised communities of the society, she was keen to understand them
artistically.
She also mixed the photo mechanical process with intaglio, which looks like a xerox copy of a photograph.
Title of the Graphic Prints- Man, Woman and Tree
Artist- [Link] Goud
Period- Modern
Medium: Paper
Technique: Etching and Aquatint
Circa : 2017 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Subject Matter:
The picture shows a memory from the artist's childhood,
featuring a simple and stylized portrayal of country life
with a man and woman among trees.
Composition:
In this etching, man– womans shown with trees in the
background.
It is based on his childhood memories immersed in nature.
the artist portrays the harmony of rural life by depicting men and women amidst trees in the background.
Illustration of a rural idyll is characterized through the prototypes of peasant man and woman.
The artwork realistically captures the appearance of villagers but adds a gentle stylized touch, making the
figures resemble puppets shapes in the artwork have very detailed and carefully crafted outlines.
This print is line-based and coloured.
Artist- K Laxma Goud (born 1940):
Kalal Laxma Goud was born in Nizampur, Medak district, Hyderabad State in 1940.
Laxma Goud, a fine draftsman and printmaker, studied mural painting and printmaking at M. S. University,
Baroda.
He was influenced by his teacher K. G. Subramanyan’s experiments with the
narrative mode and figuration of visual traditions, classical, folk and popular
cultures.
He tries to erase sharp demarcations between major and minor arts, thus, giving it
linguistic breath.
This has helped him straddle various mediums, such as glass painting, terracotta and
bronze.
Some of his other artworks are Woman, Man, Landscape of Turkey, Untitled, Xiyan China, etc.
The Government of India Honoured him with Padma Shri in 2016.
III
Sculptures are the three-dimensional art form made of stone, metals, wood, wax, clay or any other materials used
by the artist/sculptor of present time to present their feelings or aesthetics.
Sculptures: Sculptor:
Triumph of Labour [Link]
Santhal Family Ramkinker Vaij
Ganesha [Link]
Cries Unheard Amar Nath Sehgal
Title of the Sculpture- Triumph of Labour
Painter- D.P. Roy Chowdhury
Period- Modern
Medium: Bronze and Cement
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Subject Matter:
An Artwork Showing Strong People Working Hard,
Representing Our Country's Identity.
Composition:
This is an open-air large-scale sculpture in bronze.
It was installed at Marina Beach, Chennai, on the eve
of the Republic Day in 1959.
Its prototype has been Installed at the main gate of the National gallery of Modern Art New Delhi.
It shows four men trying to move a rock, rendering the importance and contribution of human labour in
nation building.
Strong and determined men, who cannot be defeated, are struggling Energetically against the forces of
nature with great Determination and power.
Reflects a 19th-century romantic theme of labor against the elements of nature.
Chowdhury loved to dwell on the strong musculature of his workers, revealing their bones, veins, flesh, etc.
Human figures are installed in a way that create a curiosity in us as viewers.
It attracts the viewers to see it from all sides.
The image of group labour is placed on a high pedestal (base), thereby, replacing the notion of portraits of
kings or British dignitaries.
Artist- Devi Prasad roy Chowdhury (1899-1975):
Born in 1899 in Rangpur now in Bangladesh, [Link] is one of the most talented and multifaceted
Artists, India ever produced.
He started learning drawing from Abanindranath Tagore and as his disciple he started painting in watercolor
both in tempera and wash on mythological subjects.
Some of his great work-. ‘Nirvana’ in oil, ‘Bridge’ in pastel, ‘Durga Puja procession’ in oil.
Awarded ‘Padmabhushan’ by Govt. of India.
Title of the Sculpture- Santhal Family
Painter- Ramkinkar Baij
Period- Modern
Medium: Cement and Concrete
Circa: 1937 A.D.
Collection: Shanti Niketan, West Bengal
Subject Matter:
Sculpture shows the everyday life of a migrating Santhal
family, symbolizing the first public modernist sculpture in
India."
Composition:
This is an open-air large-scale sculpture created by
Ramkinker Baij in 1937.
It is made out of metal Structure and cement mixed with pebbles, and placed in the compound of Kala
Bhavana, Shantiniketan, India’s first national art school.
It shows a scene of a Santhal man, carrying his children in a double basket joined by a pole, and his wife and
dog walking alongside.
Perhaps, it speaks of the family migrating from one region to another, carrying all their frugal possessions.
This must be an everyday scene for the artist living amidst the rural landscape.
He gives it a monumental status.
The sculpture is made in the round, which means that we can see it from all sides.
It is placed on a low pedestal, making us feel as if we are part of the same space.
The significance of this work is that it is regarded as the first public modernist sculpture in India.
We do not need to go to a museum to see it as it is placed outside Kala Bhavana.
The artist has avoided traditional medium like marble, wood or stone, and has preferred cement, the symbol
of modernisation.
Artist- Ramkinkar Baij(1910-80):
Ramkinkar Baij was born in a poor family in Bankura District of West Bengal.
The painting named Sita's Exile was made by him when he was only 15 years of age and published in the
magazine named Pravasi.
This painting helped him to get a gold medal in the painting exhibition of Delhi.
For his idols, he used a medium of sand, concrete, cement and soil because they were easily available
everywhere.
He did not accept doing work only in any particular style.
Among his works, the famous are- Santhal Family, Sujata, Reaper, Girl and The Dog, Returning from the
Market.
Title of the Sculpture- Ganesha
Painter- P.V. Janakiram
Period- Modern
Medium: Oxidised copper, tin and wires
Circa: 1970 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Subject Matter:
"Janakiram's copper sculpture beautifully combines traditional skills with artistic detailing, portraying
Ganesha playing the vina. The focus on simple lines gives it a unique and thoughtful look."
Composition:
In this Janakiram has used sheets of copper to create pictorial sculpture as
free-standing forms.
He has made ornamented their surface with linear elements.
These linear elements work as facial features and decorative motifs to
suggest religious icons, inviting Personal Reflection.
The image of Ganesha, crafted frontally, lends an important indigenous
character of cave and temple sculpture.
In this sculpture, Ganesha is palying vina, a musical instrument.
Ganesha reveals his understanding of traditional imagery.
He has elaborated linear details into overall form.
The sculpture is conceived in terms of linear Shapes instead of emphasis
on three-dimensionality, despite its volume.
Rhythm and growth are Combined through lyrical stylisation.
It is also an amalgamation of folk and traditional craftsmanship.
Artist- P.V. Janakiram (birth 1930):
P.V Janakiram was born in Madras (Chennai) in 1930 A.D.
He got degrees in Fine Art, Sculpture and Vocational Art from Art College, Madras.
He has used sheets of copper to create pictorial sculpture as free-standing forms, and ornamented their
surface with linear elements.
He also experimented with the ‘open endedness’ quality of indigenous workmanship.
The main speciality of them is the idols are standing facing towards one another and they have been
ornamented with copper and thin wires of copper.
Among his leading idols are –Krishna, Garuda, Ganesha, and Christ; other creations are-Madonna and Child
and Flute Player etc.
Title of the Sculpture- Cries Un-heard
Painter- Amarnath Sehgal
Period- Modern
Medium: Bronze
Circa: 1958 A.D.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Subject Matter:
Cries Unheard" symbolically represents a family's pain using abstract stick-like
figures in a sculpture. The artwork depicts a husband, wife, and child crying out for
help.
Composition:
'Cries Unheard' is a symbolic representation of a family's anguish and
sorrow.
Although the artist only uses abstraction.
In which three figures are stick-like and shown in flat rhythmical planes.
It is easy to understand them as a family—husband, wife and child.
They are shown flinging their arms above and crying out for help in vain.
Through the medium of sculpture, their helplessness expressed by the hand gesture is turned into a
permanent shape.
We can see this artwork as supporting socialism, where the artist honors many poor families needing
assistance, but their pleas go unnoticed.
None other than socialist poet, Mulk Raj Anand, wrote movingly about this work, which now is in the
collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Artist Amarnath Sehgal (1922-2007):
Amarnath Sehgal was born at Campbellpur of district Attok now in Pakistan.
Although the artist only uses abstraction, in which three figures are stick-like and shown in flat rhythmical
planes, yet it is easy to understand them as a family—husband, wife and child.
After the Indo-Pak partition, he came to India in 1950 A.D.
He started teaching in Modern School, Delhi.
He is known as a philosopher, poet, sculptor and artist.
His other creations are-Anguished cries (bronze), floating cries (poem) and Abyss of life.