Art Mumbai

ABOUT

The modernist practices of art in India are currently understood in silos. It is further complicated because these groupings are staggered across time, separated by geography and driven by concentrated markets. Indian Modern Art is yet to be discussed in totality and organized in sequence of impact. Therefore, it is now important to highlight the ‘third wave’ of modern art that developed in Madras. The first, being the New Bengal School from Calcutta and the second, being the Progressive Artists’ Group from Bombay. Modern Art from Madras is largely centred around two institutions The Government College of Arts & Crafts and The Cholamandal Artists’ Village. The former was instrumental in grooming and educating the artists from the 1940s to the 1960s who in turn became the latter group of visionaries who engaged with modernism in art. While the Calcutta and Bombay artists were engaged with nationalistic and western influences from a pre-independent India, the Madras moderns were more focused on vernacular narratives in conjunction with post-modern western art. The curation of this exhibition focuses on the Madras aesthetic and the evolution of Modern Art in Madras. The works on display represent some of the finest examples by master artists who made groundbreaking contributions to the idea of modernity, thus extending the modern art narrative in India.