Assimilation in creative process
Lalithaa Krishnan
ABSTRACTION IN INDIAN PAINTING — Post Independence Era: Badar Jahan; Kaveri Books, 4697/5-21A, Ansari Road, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 1950.
The creative process in art is inextricably linked with assimilation. To the extent that man is a child of environment and circumstance, his art is a reflection of cultural climate. As the winds of radical change swept through 19th century A.D. Europe, visual art increasingly moved from the merely representational to the interpretative, coming to a head in the Impressionist Movement. Exciting times were in store for artists. Techniques, forms, and indeed the very use of colour, were revolutionised, pumping new blood into tired arteries to rejuvenate and empower. This movement generated ever-widening ripples in the global art community.
Regional movements
Placing evolution of styles and distinctive choice of themes in independent India in historical perspective, the author initially traces the growth of regional movements. With the societal fabric brutally ripped and irrevocably altered by the horrors of communal riots, Partition and forced migration, the sombre shades of human tragedy loomed large in the works of the Delhi school of artists such as Sailoz Mukherjee and Ram Kumar. A similar perspective influenced activists of the Calcutta group who voiced the despair of displacement through a palette dominated by red, black and grey. However, the oeuvres of the Bombay Progressives represented by F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza and M.F. Hussain among others, and the Madras, Hyderabad and Baroda groups, were imbued with an alternative energy expressed through bright primary hues.
Artists bonded in their quest to break free of stereotypes and discover new streams of self-expression, their approach summed up in Sadanand G. Bakre’s words: “The only “ism” we had in common was individualism.” Thus, the concept of western abstract expression, Impressionism and Cubism permeated successive levels of contemporary Indian painting, adding a whole new slant to a vocabulary adopted from iconography, folk and tribal elements. This also encouraged artists to explore styles inspired by but independent of traditional sources rooted in Buddhist, Mughal and Rajput schools. In the process, broad classifications emerged under the heads of representational, non-representational, nationalist and internationalist approaches, the last espoused by artists who sought fresh insights through a course of study abroad at the iconic Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. On the organisational front, significant milestones at this juncture included the establishment of the Lalit Kala Akademi, the National Gallery of Modern Art and, several public and private galleries.
Trendsetters
The 1960s saw an upsurge of interest in texturing techniques and experimentation with new materials. The very basics of the approach to painting were questioned. In an ideal milieu like the just established Cholamandalam Artists Village, the search was unfettered by inherited notions of acceptability, the resultant freeing-up exemplified by the works of founding fathers such as K.C.S.Paniker, Reddeppa Naidu, K.G.Subramanyan, Ramanujan and S.G.Vasudev. Themes explored ranged from erotic imagery to Durga manifestations with Vivan Sundram, Satish Gujral and Bhupen Khakkar ranking among the trendsetters. By the 1970s, the atmosphere was more relaxed and heralded an unselfconscious return to native roots, not shying away from the pull of religious imagery. Biren De’s tryst with Tantric symbolism and Paniker’s Words and Symbols series ushered in a significant trend. The spotlight was also turned on women artistes who garnered widespread appreciation for their sensitive, empathetic portrayals of women as the fulcrum in social commentary.
Installation art
It was inevitable that installation art would mushroom as a reactionary move against the growing blatant commercialisation of art, which found expression in M.F.Hussain’s Shwethambari, for instance. The author’s definition of installation art, its scope for socio-political statement, and the debates and reactions triggered help determine its relevance in the Indian milieu.
Discussing the dialectic of abstract art, the author points out that abstraction lies beneath the skin of every realistic work. The philosophy underlying the oeuvres of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse and later masters like Kadinsky and Paul Klee throws light on the source of the free-flowing, pure energy vitalising their creations. The signature styles of contemporary Indian artists like Jamini Roy, Jeram Patel and many others are discussed in detail.
This publication is a dedicated effort at mapping the trajectory of modern abstract Indian painting. Much care has gone into defining and differentiating the various “isms” despite their areas of broad overlap. A sprinkling of errors and typos could have been avoided with tighter editing. The colour reproductions of paintings vividly illustrate points highlighted in the text, enabling the reader to savour the depth of the artists’ convictions.
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