Body Politics

Did India’s Independence also change the way artists in the country depicted the human body? This is the theme of an ongoing exhibition titled The Body Unbound at Rubin Museum of Art in New York. Artists of the newly liberated nation vented their hopes,notions of beauty and anxiety in the presentation of human figures. While MF Husain had an enduring fascination with the female figure,which included goddesses and regular women,Tyeb Mehta’s traumatic experiences of Partition reflected in his human figures,and Bhupen Khakhar sought to introduce India’s middle class into his works. Apart from these three doyens,the exhibition includes works of Richard Bartholomew and B Prabha. The exhibition will be held till April 9.