By Sakhshi Mahajan
There are very few public art institutions that do justice in educating us about the modern and contemporary art history of our country, and one of them is the National Gallery of Modern Art {NGMA}. The NGMA is located in the old residential home of the Maharaja of Jaipur called Jaipur House on India Gate. It was established in 1954 with the aim of acquiring and preserving modern art and it represents how art forms have changed over time. There are two other branches in Bangalore and Mumbai that were established much later. The NGMA in New Delhi houses more that 14,000 works of art and is the most significant Indian Modern Art collection. Like most museums it has its permanent collections as well as rotating special exhibitions.
Walking into NGMA might have a novice overwhelmed and utterly confused; the art behemoth is spread over 4 levels, and has two extensions {map attached}. But once you’ve taken in the magnitude of the gallery, let the art do the talking because it’s truly spectacular. The artworks have been classified into different categories according to time period, artist’s movements, art schools and artists who have had a huge impact on the evolution of styles and forms in our country. I’ll be walking you through level 1, 2 & 3 in this article, creating a timeline to put it in historical context.
{Map of NGMA}
TIMELINE |
MINIATURE PAINTINGS | LEVEL 2 | {10th to mid 16th century}
They are the oldest form of paintings in India that followed mural paintings in caves. Miniatures were done on palm leaves, paper and cloth and are small in scale. These paintings assisted texts in manuscripts and adopted various themes including court lives, religious mythology, old legends, changing seasons and portraiture. Miniature paintings were done in Rajasthani, Pahari and Deccan courts. Mughal paintings were some of the greatest miniatures ever created.
{Mughal Miniature Paintings}
COLONIAL ARTISTS, ACADEMIC REALISM AND RAJA RAVI VARMA | LEVEL 2 | {late 16th century to mid 19th century}
Many Dutch, Portuguese and British companies were trying to gain control over India in the 17th century and hence there was an influx of European artists in search for commission-based works. There were numerous portrait artists and miniature painters who came to the country and in turn adopted Indian landscapes, monuments and cultural happenings as themes for their works. Artists such as the Daniell Brothers, William Hodges, Edward Cheney and Robert Grindlay introduced Indian landscapes to the west as they documented life in the country and their journeys through our diverse country.
{Thomas Daniell}
Post the arrival of the colonial artists; the country saw the emergence of a realistic style in Indian paintings, which the early artists learnt from Europeans between the late 19th and the early 20th century. A whole generation of artists including Pastonji Bomanjee, Jamini Prokash Gangooly and Hemendranath Majumdar from art schools in Bombay and Calcutta started adopting academic expressions of realism resulting in the emergence of oil paintings.
{Pastonji Bomanjee}
{H. Majumdar}
Raja Ravi Varma who is considered to be one of the greatest Indian painters also adopted this style. His works were unique depictions of themes from Hindu mythology using techniques like perspective, depth, anatomy and chiaroscuro. The interplay of light and shade in his work makes his paintings visible in minimal lighting just as you would see them outside a temple wall, where they were meant to belong.
{Raja Ravi Varma}
COMPANY PERIOD AND PHOTOGRAPHY | LEVEL 1 & 2 | {18th- 19th century}
Better known as the ‘Company School’ paintings, these emerged under the patronage of the British East India Company. Due to the decline of traditional patronage, Indian artists were commissioned to make realistic images that documented Indian culture. In the 1840’s photography became another medium to capture ‘objective reality’, adding a new dimension to the arts. Lala Deen Dayal was a pioneer photographer and he left us with a formidable documentation of British India.
{‘Company School’}
{Entrance to Char Minar, Hyderabad; Lala Deen Dayal Photography}
{Mohurrum festival; Lala Deen Dayal Photography}
{Nizam’s drawing room; Lala Deen Dayal Photography}
KALIGHAT PAINTING AND BENGAL SCHOOL | LEVEL 2 | (19th century), (early 20th century)
Kalighat paintings originated in the Kalighat Kali temple in Calcutta. They depicted Hindu gods and goddesses on scrolls, which were initially souveniours for visitors who came to the temple, eventually; they became a distinct school of art.
{Kalighat Painting}
The Bengal School was an art movement initiated by Abanindranath Tagore in Kolkata and Shantiniketan. It was known as the ‘Indian style of Painting’ and was a nationalist project associated with ‘swadeshi’. The Bengal school used indigenous techniques and material in their artworks and they rejected paintings that were created using western techniques, like the works of Raja Ravi Varma. This rejection of academic realism made the Bengal School turn to Japanese styles, including ‘wash’ paintings. This technique used layered pigments washed subsequently with water to create new images of landscapes that were transparent in a sense and also led schools in Santiniketan to experiment with expressionism, ‘an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.’
{Abanindranath Tagore}
Other artists associated with the Bengal School and Shantiknekitan include Gaganendranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose and the famous Rabindranath Tagore. Their works can be found on Level 3.
{Gaganendranath Tagore; Inspired by cubism, futurism and expressionism}
{Jamini Roy; Inspired by Bengali Folk art}
Museums have an overpowering effect that galleries can never have on you, primarily because you know you are walking into a space that is displaying masterpieces. In Greek philosophy, a museum was considered to be a ‘temple to the muses’, and was religious in a sense. To see a painting or sculpture at the Louvre in Paris, people had to travel to it, making it an experience. Today, with technology and wonders like the ‘Google Art Project’, I can see the Mona Lisa online, and possibly identify if it needs to go to the restoration department for conservation. In my opinion, the visual arts cannot be appreciated virtually. Museums are therapeutic; being able to go back in history in such a tangible manner is fascinating. And I urge you to go appreciate a one of kind institution that we have in our city!
Stay tuned for more on Amrita Shergill, Artists Collectives, Art movements in the 20th century and the Contemporary art movement at the NGMA.
Where | National Gallery of Modern Art is located at Jaipur House, off the India Gate roundabout, Ph. 011-23384640
