A month-long exhibition featuring a collection of paintings and sculptures by 75 experienced as well as contemporary Indian artists opened at Delhi Art Gallery here this Monday.
Titled “Manifestations VII”, the bi-annual exhibition pays tribute to the progressive artists' group by showcasing works of some of its stalwarts like F. N. Souza, M. F. Husain and S. H. Raza. Modernist masters featured in the selection are illustrious names like Jogen Chowdhury, Laxma Goud, Ganesh Haloi and K. K. Hebbar.
According to Delhi Art Gallery's Publication and Exhibition head Kishore Singh, the gallery organises its annual exhibition twice a year in which most of the works belonging to the pre-Independence period are exhibited. “In every exhibition, we showcase 75 works made by a commensurate number of artists. As our gallery is a treasure house of historical works, we try and pick one iconic or rare work symbolic of that artist. Our inventory is very strong; we have 30,000 art works. So we do not have to borrow from other places for our bi-annual exhibitions.”
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To illustrate his point, Mr. Singh talks about the exhibited work of Sohan Qadri, who was synonymous with tantra art. “Sohan, who lived in Europe and died last year, was known for his inimitable tantra art. But at the ongoing exhibition we are exhibiting his mid-1960s graphic cityscape of Chandigarh. This kind of work one does not associate with Qadri. Similarly, in the case of Jamini Roy we have one of his impressionistic landscapes though he was associated with figurative works.”
M. F. Husain's work of Rajasthani mosaic made in the Seventies is also being exhibited. The artist has signed in Hindi on this painting. “Husain always did something unusual. He once signed in Telugu. He had a knack for experimenting and coming up with out-of-the-box ideas...Then we have a work depicting a range of mountains created by legendary Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. He was associated with such kind of works but his works are found only in museums and institutions in India. But in the ongoing exhibition it is up for grabs.”
For each exhibited work, the gallery gets a scholar who analyses and writes about the work for the uninitiated.
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The Bengal School is represented by Nandalal Bose and Mukul Dey, whose limited-edition published volume of 20 signed dry points Indian Life and Legends is the highlight of the exhibition.
For the first time, the gallery is showcasing work of master Pakistani artist Sadequain, which is an ode to famous poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
The seventh edition of this bi-annual exhibition features several works of academic realist portraiture from early 20th Century -- vivid oil portraits by masters of the form such as Pestonji Bomanji, M. F. Pithawalla, Baburao Painter and L. N. Taskar.
The sculpture section features master-sculptor Ramkinkar Baij and modernist sculptors D. P. Roy Chowdhury, Chintamoni Kar, Tarak Garai and Ravinder Reddy.
Jaipur-based sculptor Himmat Shah's unusual collage on paper is also on view.