Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses In 19th And 20th Century Modern Art

Gallery Exhibition

Indian Divine

Gods & Goddesses In 19th And 20th Century Modern Art

Mumbai: Kala Ghoda, 11 October – 30 November 2014

New Delhi: Hauz Khas Village, 18 March – 15 July 2014

The exhibition, Indian Divine, begins with the late nineteenth century art on mythological and religious themes from regions as diverse as Bombay and Bengal. These include Western style oil paintings of deities by such well-known artists of the academic realist styles as Raja Ravi Varma and M. V. Dhurandhar, and mythological/ religious episodes and figures featured in the hybrid style, a mix of Western realistic painting and traditional Indian art and concerns—the Early Bengal style, a very popular form, of which the exhibition presents over fifty works. It goes on to document Kalighat paintings on religious and mythological themes from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that were very popular, as well popular bazaar prints on these themes that flooded the markets with the advent of lithography and mechanical printing.

From here, the exhibition charts the sheer range and expanse of religious and mythological themes in modern Indian art. The featured works range from the lyrical imagery of the Bengal School, as represented by the historical Siva Drinking World Poison by Nandalal Bose, to modern renditions of the Devi and popular episodes from myth and epics, such as the Mahabharata, from all parts of the country and spanning a diverse range of styles over the eventful twentieth century and early twenty-first century. These include images of the female goddess as imagined and portrayed by such modern masters as Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne, M. F. Husain, K. K. Hebbar, as well as several renditions of popular male deities, such as Krishna and Ganesha, by artists such as Rabin Mondal and P. V. Janakiram.

The exhibition features a number of works on Christian themes and imagery, led by the first Indian artist to have explored this aspect, Jamini Roy. He is followed by well-known artists such as Krishen Khanna, F. N. Souza, Madhvi Parekh, Kanwal Krishna, S. Dhanapal, and V. Nageshkar, as well as a great number of works on Buddhist themes that span time and diverse art styles. While the draw of the icon is strong, many Indian artists also responded to the theme in languages of minimalism and abstraction, producing sublime works to meditate upon, including a number of tantra works by artists such as G. R. Santosh, Sohan Qadri, P. T. Reddy, Sunil Das and many others.

Artists

A. A. Almelkar

A. A. Raiba

A. P. Bagchi

Anonymous (Early Bengal)

Anonymous (Kalighat Pats)

Asit Kumar Haldar

B. C. Law

B. N. Jija

Baburao Painter

Bat-tala Print (Anonymous)

Benode Behari Mukherjee

Bikash Bhattacharjee

Bipin Behari Goswami

Bishnupada Roy Chowdhury

Chittaprosad

D. B. Onkar

D. D. Burman

D. N. Sharma

Debabrata Chakraborty

Dhirendra Narayan

Dipen Bose

Heramba Kumar Ganguly

Indu Rakshit

Kalipada Ghoshal

Kamal Chattopadhyay

Kanwal Krishna

Kartick Chandra Pyne

Krishen Khanna

Kshitindranath Majumdar

Nihar Ranjan Sengupta

P. T. Reddy

P. V. Janakiram

Rabin Mondal

Radha Charan Bagchi

Raja Ravi Varma

Ramananda Bandhopadhyay

Ramendranath Chakravorty

Ramgopal Vijaivargiya

Ranada Charan Ukil

Reddeppa Naidu

Roop Krishna

Sanjay Bhattacharya

Sudhanshu Ghosh

Sudhir Ranjan Khastgir

Sunil Das

Sunil Madhav Sen

Surendranath Ganguly

Vishwanath Nageshkar

‘By juxtaposing the legacies of artists belonging to different generations and shaped by very different cultures of creativity, the show makes us reflect on the nature and implications of “religious art” as a category in itself’

– Mint, 2014

exhibition highlights

press

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Divine Depictions

Hindustan Times

15 March, 2014

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Gods, Goddesses and a cultural canvas

The Sunday Statesman

16 March, 2014

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For the Love of God

Express Newsline

17 March, 2014

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Portrait of the lord

The Pioneer

20 March, 2014

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Myths and gods in Indian art

The Asian Age

22 March, 2014

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For the Love of God

The Indian Express

22 March, 2014

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For the Love of God

The Indian Express

22 March, 2014

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Spotlight | Human in the divine

Mint

22 March, 2014

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