A walk of art
10 May 2012 1:31 AM GMT
A walk through a museum never made much sense until I knew the context of the painting.
Art appreciation, as one would term it, can only happen if you are tuned in to the history of an artwork or unless you are an artist yourself. Many a times art enthusiasts have no proper guide. This is the reason why I signed up for Changing The Rules, an art walk by Flow India that takes place at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Managed by Sujata Parsai, Head, Cultural Communication Programme, National Gallery of Modern Art, with her partners, this walk is all of 60 minutes and led by art historians.
The walk takes place every Tuesday and the last Sunday of every month. It gives you an overall view and also maps landmarks in the history of Indian art. The tour I went for, on a Tuesday, dealt with Indian Miniature paintings and European travelling artist. It talked about Indian miniature paintings and contrasted them with European oil paintings and brought out the artistic traditions of both worlds. The walk covered the early 20th century — from 1900 to 1940s. This span of time was very important for the development and inception of the Indian modern art. It was the age of the first Indian art school — the Bengal school of art. The 1900s were about life-sized works and the time when European oil was first introduced. The works dealt with realistic images. The first art school, though, was opened by the British to teach India their presumption of art.
Initially only the elites joined the art school. This school of art in India which taught the European style of realistic portraits was popularised by Raja Ravi Varma. His paintings were about naturalism, realism and presented a single perspective.
As we walked further down, we found that the art of the time reflected the nationalist mood of the times. The Bengal school of art was a reaction to the need to boycott everything that was not Indian, oil paintings included. An important artist of the time was Rabindranath Tagore’s nephew, Abanindranath, whose artwork Mother India was a tribute to the nationalist movement.
From 1920-40s, there were four main artists who differed from the Bengal school of art: Rabindranath Tagore, his nephew Gaganendranth Tagore, Amrita Shergill, and Jamini Roy. At the age of 67, Rabindranath already had several accolades and a Nobel Prize to his name. What he believed was words could be dated but there was something about visuals that transcended the barriers of time. He made paintings with any available article, like a piece of rag, cotton balls, pencil, etc. At a time when the nation was immersed in the struggle for freedom, Rabindranath was sowing the seeds of modern art in India. There was also Gaganendranath Tagore, who indulged in the Western form of art, cubism, and was very bold in adapting various forms of life. Nudity and sex was also a subject in his paintings.
When you talk of boldness in Indian art, you cannot but think of Amrita Shergill who established the oil medium. Trained in Europe, she came to India at the age of 21. The lives of Indian women eventually became both her subject of introspection and art. Her work neither lacked her boldness nor any reserve.
Jamini Roy brought folk culture to the forefront. The Patta Chitta, where the background submerges and the lines are sharp and flowing, was what made him stand out in the art world. I was amazed to know that he didn’t use pencils or erasers. The fish eye, use of oil, and water, impressionistic art and reality were all the special elements in his art.
I came back an art enthusiast.
Art appreciation, as one would term it, can only happen if you are tuned in to the history of an artwork or unless you are an artist yourself. Many a times art enthusiasts have no proper guide. This is the reason why I signed up for Changing The Rules, an art walk by Flow India that takes place at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Managed by Sujata Parsai, Head, Cultural Communication Programme, National Gallery of Modern Art, with her partners, this walk is all of 60 minutes and led by art historians.
The walk takes place every Tuesday and the last Sunday of every month. It gives you an overall view and also maps landmarks in the history of Indian art. The tour I went for, on a Tuesday, dealt with Indian Miniature paintings and European travelling artist. It talked about Indian miniature paintings and contrasted them with European oil paintings and brought out the artistic traditions of both worlds. The walk covered the early 20th century — from 1900 to 1940s. This span of time was very important for the development and inception of the Indian modern art. It was the age of the first Indian art school — the Bengal school of art. The 1900s were about life-sized works and the time when European oil was first introduced. The works dealt with realistic images. The first art school, though, was opened by the British to teach India their presumption of art.
Initially only the elites joined the art school. This school of art in India which taught the European style of realistic portraits was popularised by Raja Ravi Varma. His paintings were about naturalism, realism and presented a single perspective.
As we walked further down, we found that the art of the time reflected the nationalist mood of the times. The Bengal school of art was a reaction to the need to boycott everything that was not Indian, oil paintings included. An important artist of the time was Rabindranath Tagore’s nephew, Abanindranath, whose artwork Mother India was a tribute to the nationalist movement.
From 1920-40s, there were four main artists who differed from the Bengal school of art: Rabindranath Tagore, his nephew Gaganendranth Tagore, Amrita Shergill, and Jamini Roy. At the age of 67, Rabindranath already had several accolades and a Nobel Prize to his name. What he believed was words could be dated but there was something about visuals that transcended the barriers of time. He made paintings with any available article, like a piece of rag, cotton balls, pencil, etc. At a time when the nation was immersed in the struggle for freedom, Rabindranath was sowing the seeds of modern art in India. There was also Gaganendranath Tagore, who indulged in the Western form of art, cubism, and was very bold in adapting various forms of life. Nudity and sex was also a subject in his paintings.
When you talk of boldness in Indian art, you cannot but think of Amrita Shergill who established the oil medium. Trained in Europe, she came to India at the age of 21. The lives of Indian women eventually became both her subject of introspection and art. Her work neither lacked her boldness nor any reserve.
Jamini Roy brought folk culture to the forefront. The Patta Chitta, where the background submerges and the lines are sharp and flowing, was what made him stand out in the art world. I was amazed to know that he didn’t use pencils or erasers. The fish eye, use of oil, and water, impressionistic art and reality were all the special elements in his art.
I came back an art enthusiast.
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