India’s only daily art newspaper
In the book ‘How the Personal Became Political’, edited by Michelle Arrow, Angela Woollacott collects many critical writings on art and culture. In this book, an article, ‘How the personal became (and remains) political in the visual Arts Chapter’ by Catriona Moore and Catherine Speck, extensively argues about the feminine space in visual art. In …
Judith Leyster: Forgotten Master in the Dutch Golden Age Read More »
If an artist loves silence, does Art become a flame of stillness? If an artist lives in the spirit of music, what is her Art? If an artist knows music and Art, what is her Art? Shobha Broota is an artist and musician; she studied music first, then Art in the 1960s, and became an …
Shobha Broota: Scent of Visual Language, Lost Terrain of Colours Read More »
When we think of portraying traumatic events of history through painting, we often wish to communicate it using a visually unsettling image that draws the viewer and does – to whatever degree possible – artistic justice to the event. Beauty, one presumes, bears no immediate relationship to the appalling. For the renowned Indian artist Arpana …
26th August 2023. ON THIS DAY. “My opinions find expression in my creation. I believe that artists are sensors, receptors, and transmitters of ideas in a society and I try to fulfil that role to the best of my ability, even at the cost of winning the ire of those in power.” – Subodh Kerkar …
Subodh Kerkar: Dialogues with Gandhi and Oceanic Histories Read More »
A gentlemanly artist with a Dali-esque moustache and an elegant sartorial taste befitting his aristocratic lineage, Jehangir Sabavala was one of India’s most accomplished painters of the 20th century. Born on 23rd August 1922 in the heydays of Indian nationalism, Jehangir belonged to an affluent Parsi and Zoroastrian family, whose sympathies rested with the British …
Ache of the Sublime: The Paintings of Jehangir Sabavala Read More »
“The painter’s art, as I see it, is about making poetic images visible.” René Magritte Who invent surrealistic Art is a challenging question in art history. Most artists have some layer of surrealism, and most artworks play ambiguous roles in human expressive history. Which elements can people easily understand, from clouds, pipes, bowler hats, …
René Magritte: Rebel in Surrealism, Prophet in Art, Mystic in Poetic Images Read More »
In an interview with the poet Arundhati Subramanium, the artist Gieve Patel talked about a phrase from Wassily Kandinsky’s book ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ that has informed his artistic practice as a painter and a writer. Kandinsky’s mandate suggests, “Write when you feel an inner need or don’t.” Born on 18th August 1940, …
Of Brushes and Poems: The Eclecticism of Gieve Patel Read More »
Who is Rosa Bonheur? A 19th-century painter who focused on animal painting and realistic sculptures? The legacy of Rosa Bonheur (1822-99) does not end in those zones of interest. Now the world considers Rosa Bonheur one of the most influential female artists in the history of Western Art. She lived with her lesbian spouse …
Wealthy, Famous and Ignored: Redemption of Rosa Bonheur Read More »
Portraiture has a unique place in the history of art. By looking at who was portrayed, and how, one is able to gain insights into social, cultural, and political history. Despite the fact that portraiture has been an art form available to us since antiquity, the form really gained prominence during the Renaissance as a …
Purveyors of Indian History: The Portraits of Manchershaw F. Pithawalla Read More »
Born in Kolkata in 1939, Sunil Das was an Indian expressionist painter. Coming from a middle-class family, Das decided to be a painter early on in life and refused to join his family business. He enrolled in the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta in 1955 and later won a French Government Scholarship to …
Sunil Das’ Artistic Odyssey: The Spirit of Equine Majesty and Ferocious Bulls Read More »
