Step into the Shridharani Gallery and you are transported into the world of Avant-Garde modernism. Sanjiv Choube of the Raza Foundation does a neat exercise of bringing together Sayed Haider Raza, his wife Janine Mongillat, M.F Husain, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, and Akbar Padamsee's works, all under one roof.
Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi: Artistic Nuances
The Raza Foundation is paying an ode to the memory of S.H Raza on his death anniversary with a show of 40 works. Your eyes move straight to Janine Mongillat's tea bags and her stunning depiction of birds. Other than being Raza's wife, she was an aesthete who created dulcet paintings with tea bags, was a painter, collage artist, sculptor, and an evocative assemblage artist.
Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi: An Artistic Circle
In the '60s in Paris, Raza's friends were Ram Kumar and Akbar Padamsee. Padamsee's pencil portraits are as expressionist in fervour as Ram Kumar's 1989 work with their small boxed-like houses that revel in the resonance of its own existence. M.F.Husain's sculptural Peasant Couple created in dark embers and Mithuna sculptures create a lasting impression.
Krishen Khanna's portrait in longitudinal strokes and russet renditions are a lesson in the art of translating the human figure even as restraint is used in the palette. The widely acknowledged masters of modern Indian art, Raza, Husain, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, and Akbar Padamsee came together to a create a new phase in Indian art.
In the summer of 2015 when I spent a few days interviewing Raza, he reminisced about his time with Janine and spoke of how they would attend mass on Sundays. “I miss the hymns, the feeling of deep reverence that fills within when you hear beautiful voices raise their hearts and hands in prayer,” said Raza. Titled Sang Saath, this suite brings back the days of yore and the fascinating sojourn of India's Masters.
'Sang Saath' is on show at Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi from July 1 to 11, 2019
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