KNMA Presents ‘Purvaee’

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), Noida presents ‘Purvaee’ – the eastern wind, investigates pathways of creative sensibility transmission and modes of visual representation among the first generations of teachers in two pioneering art institutions in the country, through diverse chronological orbiting. The exhibition, which began on 13th September 2024 will continue through 4th December 2024 from 10:30 am – 6:30 pm.

The exhibition looks back at a slice of the history of art education in the country featuring rarely seen and historically significant pieces from its collection! The core narrative of this show is derived from the masters’ practices, which converse with the artistic practices of subsequent generations. It reflects on the methods of institutional inducement, which allowed their acolytes to develop a wide range of artistic sensitivity. Many of these students have gone on to make important contributions to the field of modern and contemporary art. 

The exhibition displays works produced between the 1940s and the 2000s, with one exceptional and renowned work ‘Sati’ a Japanese woodblock print by Nandalal Bose from the early 20th century. It explores the instructive and stylistic transformations that are observed in the works of subsequent generations of artists. Exploring subjectivities and singular representations while focusing on a small area dedicated to the practices of these fourteen artists, the exhibition participates in a conversation that is profound and broad at the same time. It studies representational phrases and the impressions that occur as styles, shapes, and annexations in a non-sequential manner, using the masters’ structural drawings as a teaching tool to make connections between similarities and contrasts.

With more than 200 artworks from the museum collection, unfolding its span and richness the exhibition investigates associations between individual practices, inter-generational creative dialogues, and institutional peculiarities. 

Kala Bhavana (Estd.1919) in Santiniketan and the Faculty of Fine Arts (Estd. 1950) in Baroda significantly influenced holistic art approaches in India. Artist-pedagogue Nandalal Bose (1882- 1966), influenced by Gandhian ideas, believed in artisanal production and a close artist-viewer connection to enhance sensitivities and quality. The importance of comprehending and determining subject matter was generated and proliferated from a principled engagement in Santiniketan by Bose. Mentored by Abanindranath Tagore, he carried forward and imparted a stylistic lineage that was a synthesis of references drawn from Ajanta murals, Indian miniatures, to Far-Eastern linear intonations in ink washes.

Bose’s belief in empathetic observation enlivens the inner nature of objects on pictorial surfaces, a prevision sustained by his protégé, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij. Such teachings through creative evolution were later found in succeeding generations of artists, including Sankho Chaudhuri, KG Subramanyan, Krishna Reddy, Sarbari Roy Choudhury, and A Ramachandran who traversed the country and beyond as educators and practitioners. Selected works constituting stylistic, formalistic, observational, and methodological criteria from their sprawling practices strike a dialogue with the works of their students Mrinalini Mukherjee, Pushpamala N., KP Krishnakumar, Vasudevan Akkitham, Bhagat Singh, and Manisha Gera Baswani (1967). 

About Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) 

Born in Kharagpur in Bihar in British India. Nandalal Bose joined the Government School of Art in Calcutta where he became the student of Abanindranath Tagore. He received a gold medal for ‘Sati’ after its exhibition at the Indian Society of Oriental Art and the Industrial Exposition in Calcutta. He went on extensive study trips across the country including a 3-month trip to study the murals of Ajanta and Bagh. Nandalal Bose retired from Kala Bhavan in 1951 and was subsequently made Professor Emeritus before passing away in 1966 in Santiniketan.

About Benode Behari Mukherjee (1904 – 1980) 

Benode Behari Mukherjee was born in Behala in 1904. He entered Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan in 1919, as a young student, eventually becoming a librarian and teacher there himself in 1925. Influenced by art from Eastern Asia, Benodebehari visited China and Japan in 1936–37 to learn various forms of brush and ink techniques. He is known for his Kala Bhavana murals which brought in a fresh perspective on modernism in Indian art. He passed away at the age of 76 in 1980, New Delhi. 

About Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) 

Ramkinkar Baij was born in Bankura, West Bengal. He completed his Diploma in Fine Arts, from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan in 1929. He then went on to head the sculpture department in 1934 there. Ramkinkar Baij passed away in Kolkata. 

About Sankho Chaudhuri (1916 – 2006) 

Sankho Chaudhuri, born in Jharkhand, was a pioneering figure in Indian art education and a notable student of Ramkinkar Baij. He completed his bachelor’s degree in art and a diploma in sculpture from Santiniketan in 1939 and 1945, respectively. In 1944, he accompanied Baij to Nepal, where he learned indigenous bronze-casting techniques while working on a war memorial. Sankho Chaudhuri passed away in Delhi, leaving behind a rich legacy in Indian art and sculpture. 

About KG Subramanyan (1924- 2016) 

Born in Kerala in 1924, KG Subramanyan was among the leading artists who sought to explore artistic identity in post-Independent India. After completing his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Presidency College, Chennai he enrolled at Santiniketan in 1944, to study art under Benodebehari Mukherjee, Nandalal Bose and Ramkinkar Baij for four years. Subramanyan has exhibited in over fifty solo shows in his long career spanning nearly seven decades. In 2016, he passed away in Vadodara.

About Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949 – 2015) 

Mrinalini Mukherjee was born in Mumbai. She graduated in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda in 1970 and did a Post Diploma in Mural Design under Prof. KG Subramanyan in 1972. Mukherjee passed away in New Delhi in 2015.

About Pushpamala N. (1956) 

Pushpamala N. was born in Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka in 1956 and completed a BA from Bangalore University before moving to Vadodara to study Fine Arts at MS University of Baroda in 1977. Teachers, artists and friends including KG Subramanyan, Raghav Kaneria and Bhupen Khakhar influenced her early artistic practice. The artist lives and works in Bengaluru.

About KP Krishnaumar (1958 -1989) 

KP Krishnakumar was born in 1958 in Kuttippuram, a small town in the Malappuram district of Kerala. After receiving his diploma in sculpture from the College of Fine Arts, Trivandrum in 1981, he enrolled for a post-diploma at Santiniketan. He moved to Baroda after the exhibition where he co-founded the Radical Painters’ and Sculptors’ Association in 1987. The Radical Group disbanded after KP Krishnakumar tragically ended his life in 1989.

About Vasudevan Akkitham (1958) 

Born in Kumaranallur, Palghat Dist., Kerala, Vasudevan Akkitham completed his Diploma and Post Diploma from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. In 1990 he joined the Painting Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda as a Lecturer, retiring as the Head of the Department after two decades. The artist lives and works in Vadodara. 

About Bhagat Singh (1958) 

Bhagat Singh studied under Professor A Ramachandran at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, where he got his BFA and MFA. Ramachandran’s influence as a mentor has seeped into Singh’s style of representation, in continuous unbroken lines and expanding variations in chromaticities.

About Manisha Gera Baswani (1967) 

Manisha Gera Baswani is a contemporary artist known for integrating Indian miniature, folk, and wall painting traditions into a modern visual language, in a variety of mediums. Having studied under her mentor, A. Ramachandran, her work combines classical motifs with elements of contemporary and popular cultural practices. She earned her MFA from Jamia Millia Islamia University in 1992, later studying in Paris on a French Government scholarship in 1993.

About Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) opened its doors to the public in January 2010. It is a pioneering private museum of Modern and Contemporary art in South Asia, with two spaces in New Delhi and Noida. It is a not-for-profit institution with an extensive and creative engagement with exhibition-making, educational and public-focused programs, and publications. The museum houses a growing collection of more than 10,000 artworks from South Asia, with a focus on the historical trajectories of 20th-century Indian art, alongside the experimental practices of young contemporaries.

Image – A Ramachandran; In Trance, 2008; Triptych; Oil on canvas; Courtesy – Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

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