Retrospective Exhibition on Ramkinkar Baij at the National Gallery of Modern Art
The exhibition is a retrospective of Ramkinkar Baij by K.S Radhakrishnan who is a sculptor but also a pupil of Ramkinkar Baij. He has put together this expansive show of his pencil drawings, watercolours, oils and sculptures. Baij was a prolific and dedicated artist and the show is a wonderful collection of all that he has done.
Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) was born in Bankura, West Bengal, into a poor family and became one of the most distinguished early modernists in Indian art. In 1925, he made his way to Kala Bhavana, the art school at Santiniketan and was under the guidance of Nandalal Bose. Encouraged by the liberating intellectual environment of Santiniketan, his artistic skills and intellectual horizons blossomed. His work acquired greater depth and complexity. Soon after completing his studies at Kala Bhavana he became a faculty member, and along with Nandalal and Benodebehari Mukherjee played a pivotal role in making Santiniketan one of the most important centres for modern art in pre-Independent India. He died in 1980.
The show is very well put together with a lot of enlightening information throughout and is open until the 31st of March 2012 at the National Gallery of Modern Art. India Gate C- Hexagon Delhi .
Well worth a visit.
Those were the people (and others like them) who put "India" into Indian art. The cultural self-confidence of that nationalist generation is why Indian art and culture has such a distinctive identity even today and is not(unlike many ex-colonies)a poor imitation of French or British art.
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