Full Description
This book explores modern art in India, tracing its evolution from the setting-up of the Progressive Artists Group in the 1940s to the contemporary movements today. It discusses some of the fundamental issues around Indian art, such as the extent of its rootedness in the country, the amalgamation of Western art methods and Indian aesthetics in the art and its increasing infusion with popular modes.
In a series of essays, the book looks at works from the late Mughal period, when artists began to move towards modernism, to the visionary approaches of artists like Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Baij and Benodebehari Mukherjee in Santiniketan. It also explores innovative works of the Indo-Hungarian artist Amrita Sher-Gil and contributions of progressive artists such as Francis Newton Souza, Sayed Haider Raza and M.F. Husain to the new and experimental forms being practised in the present, highlighting the transformative role of modern Indian art through the twentieth century as the works of each successive generation reflect the socio-cultural contexts.
With rich illustrations, the book will be of interest to students and educators of art, art history, intellectual and cultural history, as well as to connoisseurs of art.
Contents
List of Illustrations viii Illustrations in Colour ix Introduction: Life of Art, Art of Life: Encounters with Modern India 1 1 The Last Mughal Painters and Their Modern Movements 5 2 Colonial Encounters: Shekhawati Frescoes 24 3 Vision of Tagore 31 4 Making for Modernity: Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Baij and Benodebehari Mukherjee 39 5 Amrita Sher-Gil: Towards the 'Other' Art 61 6 Rise of Modern Art and the Progressives 75 7 Metamorphosis: From Mammal to Man 88 8 Nasreen: Mutating Chaos 96 9 Amar Nath Sehgal: Partition, Fragmentation and Disjunction 103 10 Bhupen Khakhar: Tryst with the Common Man 112 11 Amrita Sher-Gil to Bharti Kher 124 12 Indian (Sub)Way: Navigating Sub-territories and Underground Tracks 132 13 Excavation/Eruption: Excavating Realities, Erupting Reflections 142 14 Scroll Painters of India 151 15 Jivya Soma Mashe: Sense of Self 156 Index 161
