Journalism of Courage
In an attempt to research the artistic responses to the colour blue spanning over a century of art practice from the blue of the skies and oceans, the rivers and lakes, the blue of ancient royalty and that of Koh-i-noor, a new art exhibition explores the history of the colour blue in India and the world prompted by its seemingly universal value; Blue Cliff by Nicholas Roerich (Source: PR Handout)
Cocks on the Table by Ramkinker Baij (Source: PR Handout)
Including a range of artistic practices, from the realistic to the abstract, from landscapes and portraits to history paintings and figurative narrations, across an equally astonishing range of mediums—oils, watercolours, acrylics, printmaking, sculpture — and periods, the exhibition titled 'Indian Blue: From realism to abstraction' will continue till December 1, 2021 at DAG, The Claridges, New Delhi; Evening Glow, Calcutta by Indra Dugar (Source: PR Handout)
Figure on Seabeach by Laxman Pai (Source: PR Handout)
The exhibition features over 150 works, and over 90 artists including Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, M F Husain, Nicholas Roerich, F N Souza, S H Raza, Avinash Chandra, G R Santosh, Chittaprosad and the likes; La Berge (The Riverbank) by S H Raza (Source: PR Handout)
“Even though all art deals with colour, we have never before examined a colour individually,’ noted Ashish Anand, CEO and MD, DAG. “Through Indian Blue, we discover that colour plays a central role in our lives, and the artists chosen for this exhibition establish our relationship with it in different ways. I hope this will be the start of a discovery of different colours and their hierarchies in an artist’s palette,” he said; Landscape by F N Souza (Source: PR Handout)
Resurrection (1973) by Rabin Mondal (Source: PR Handout)
Among the most charming works in the selection is a group or family portrait by an unknown artist that depicts a group of five women of varying ages in their gara saris seated as though posing for a photograph with a group of four children. Two of the women hold a walking stick and a diary or spectacle case. The painting draws interesting parallels with the development of photography and how it influenced portrait painting in India; Untitled by Anonymous (Source: PR Handout)
Rhapsody in Time by Anupam Sud explores how the printmaker returns to images she had made earlier, adapting and morphing them for etchings later. In this case, the figure in the etching took 17 years to evolve; Rhapsody of Time by Anupam Sud (Source: PR Handout)
As per the press statement, the greatest surprise of the exhibition is a painting by Jamini Roy—a tempera abstract that seems to consist almost entirely of a textured blue mottled with red and a few diagonal lines—a rare work of the kind almost never before seen from the master’s oeuvre; Untitled by Jamini Roy (Source: PR Handout)
Roof Tops by Avinash Chandra (Source: PR Handout)
Shiva’s Bull by Satish Gujral (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled (Bhishma) by M F Husain (Source: PR Handout)
The exhibition, in an effort to examine the relationship civilisations share with the colour, not only takes the viewers to understand the artistic responses to its hues and tones at a subliminal level — something it achieves through the chosen colour under investigation in this exhibition — but also goes beyond it to examine the role colours play in human lives. And what better way to explore this rich sensory archive than through the world as visualised by artists, noted the press statement; Untitled (River scene) by K.C.S. Paniker (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled by Walter Langhammer (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled by Chittaprosad (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled by G R Santosh (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled by Nandalal Bose (Source: PR Handout)
Untitled by Shanti Dave (Source: PR Handout)
