Artworks by 75 of the country's acknowledged artists spanning over a century of Indian modernism across various periods, movements, mediums, materials and regions are now on showcase here.
The eleventh edition of Delhi Art Gallery's biannual series 'Manifestations XI' brings together modern art spread across the genres of mythology, landscape and still-life, figurative, narrative and abstract.
The show, which opened in Mumbai is now on here till November 15 and features works by the Progressives, M F Husain, S H Raza, Ram Kumar, G R Santosh.
Accompanying is a heavy catalogue detailing the works of all the artists as well as Rare sepia tinted photographs of artists at different periods of time.
"These rare pictures reflect the cultural construct of our times," says Ashish Anand, Director, DAG in a preface.
He poses the question as to what did the masters talk about when they got together as collectives or groups.
"What must they have talked of? Or shared? Was there only conivivality or also competition? What were the cirucumstances of their life and how did they manage opinion at a time when art could hardly have been taken seriously as a profession," points out Anand.
A group picture of the early modernists from Shantiniketan displays Nandlal Bose, one of the pioneers of modern Indian art, who served as the pricipal of Kala Bhavan in Shantiniketan. Bose is photographed surrounded by a group of fellow artists which includes Ramkinkar Baij and Benode Bihari Mukherjee.
