o be held at the historic Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi from January 23 to February 5, 2010, this exhibition outlines the arc of a prolific artistic career spanning several decades.

Featuring over 120 works, the exhibition includes several iconic paintings that highlight the wide scope of Krishen Khanna’s artistic practice. Drawn from important public and private collections around India, including the artist’s own, this landmark exhibition reflects Krishen Khanna’s dynamic oeuvre through some of his most significant early works as well as a group of his recent paintings.

Speaking about this retrospective, Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-founder of Saffronart, said, “Krishen Khanna is one of India’s most celebrated modernists, and someone who has had a profound influence on many other artists. This exhibition brings together some of the most significant works from each period of his remarkable career. As they trace his career, the works on display also highlight the artist’s complex narratives, his deep interest in human relationships, and his technical virtuosity.”

“This year, Saffronart also celebrates 10 years of commitment to providing a comprehensive global platform for modern and contemporary Indian art, and contributing to the sustainable growth of the Indian art market. We would like to thank the many individuals and institutions that have made this retrospective possible,” he added.

This retrospective follows the 2007 exhibition hosted by Saffronart at the Royal Academy of Art in London, and features paintings and drawings that chart the evolution of the Indian nation and its people through important events like the Partition of the Subcontinent.

Artist Krishen Khanna expressed his gratitude saying, “I am honoured by the generous response and enthusiasm that collectors and institutions around the country have had for this retrospective exhibition. I’m delighted that the public will get a chance to see such a comprehensive body of my work at the Lalit Kala Akademi.”

An illustrated catalogue with an introduction by the artist will accompany the exhibition.

Gaurav D. Garg, Managing Director & CEO, Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd. said “We are proud to reaffirm our commitment to the arts through our involvement in the Krishen Khanna retrospective”.

Saffronart, an online art auctioneer, will organize the largest ever retrospective exhibition of the works of Krishen Khanna, one of India’s most prominent and critically acclaimed modern artists.

India’s spectacular architecture, the immense natural beauty of her landscapes and the great diversity of its people have inspired many Western artists. The first visual representations of India were of imaginary landscapes and settings. They were based on the written accounts of travellers to India from across Europe, beginning with the explorer Marco Polo in the 13th century. The search for spices and precious materials motivated further exploration and the establishment of European trading companies in Asia. The trading activities of the English East India Company, founded in 1600, led to the growth of British communities in India, an environment which encouraged artistic patronage. Professional European artists began to travel to India in the 18th century and painted, for the first time, scenes based on direct observation. Their passionate interest in this new and exciting land led to the creation of a comprehensive pictorial record of India, in a visual style familiar to Western audiences. Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists: Paintings and Drawings from the V&A, 1790-1927, the ongoing art exhibition, features masterpieces of art created during this time; priceless works that bear silent testimony to a bygone era. Hosted by The Victoria Memorial Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and supported by the World Collections Programme.

Born: 1887
Died: 1972
Achievements: Developed a personal painting style inspired largely by traditional Indian folk and village arts, particularly those of Bengal. Through his paintings he gave expression to the scenes of everyday life of the people of rural Bengal

Jamini Roy was one of the most significant and influential painters of the 20th century. He was born in a middle-class family in 1887 at Beliator village in Bankura district of Bengal. His father Ramataran Roy was an amateur artist who, after resignation from government service, spent the rest of his life in his village amidst the potters.

In 1903, at the age of sixteen, Jamini Roy came to Calcutta and studied at the Government School of Art. He learnt academic methods then in vogue in the West, and achieved his early fame as a portrait painter in the European tradition. However, soon Jamini Roy cultivated a personal painting style inspired largely by traditional Indian folk and village arts, particularly those of Bengal. Jamini Roy, through his oil paintings, gave expression to the scenes of every-day life of the people of rural Bengal.

For his paintings, Jamini Roy selected themes from joys and sorrows of everyday life of rural Bengal, religious theme like-Ramayana, Sri Chaitanya, Radha-Krishna and Jesus Christ, but he depicted them without narratives. Apart from this he painted scenes form the lives of the aboriginal Santhals, such as ‘Santhals engaged in drum-beating’ ‘Santhal Mother and Child’ ‘Dancing Santhals’ etc.

In his career as an artist Jamini Roy earned fame by evolving his own language of painting which he termed as ‘Flat Technique’. Jamini Roy used cheap indigenous pigments for his art to make them within the reach of the affluent as well as the poor. Like the pata-painters of Bengal he proposed his own paintings from indigenous materials like lampblack, chalk-powder, leaves and creepers.

The exposition of Jamini Roy’s works were first held in British India Street (Calcutta) in 1938. Jamini Roy’s pictures become very popular during the 1940s and clientele included both the Bengali middle class and European community. In 1946, his work was exhibited in London and in 1953 in New York.

Jamini Roy was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1955. He died in 1972 in Calcutta.

Some of his famous paintings are:

• Santhal Boy with Drum
• Cats Sharing a Prawn
• St. Ann and the Blessed Virgin
• Makara
• Cats Plus
• Seated Woman in Sari
• Krishna And Radha Dancing
• Kitten
• Virgin And Child
• Crucifixion with Attendant Angels
• Ravana, Sita And Jatayu
• Warrior King
• Krishna with Gopis in Boat
• Krishna and Balarama

for more paintings on Jamini roy  vist www.indianartideas.com  or mail us at info@indianartideas.com

The Museum of Fine Arts has a vast and impressive collection of Indian antiquities, but “Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art’’ is the museum’s first exhibit of modern and contemporary Indian art.

It’s that time of the year again when the city of Hyderabad witnesses an explosion of cultural events.
In collaboration with The Embassy of France in India, Alliance Francaise of Hyderabad and a variety of sponsors, the Krishnakriti Foundation presents Annual Festival of Art & Culture in memory of Krishnachandra B. Lahoti.
Tightly integrated with the ongoing “Bonjour India – Festival of France in India”, the Krishnakriti festival will showcase a heady mix of classical & modern art-forms from cultures across the globe. The line-up includes music, dance, art and fusion art forms.
The Krishnakriti Foundation will conduct an art camp from Jan 7 to 11 at the Kalakriti Art Gallery. A panel comprising some of India’s best known artists will conduct a discussion on “Where is the Indian Art Market Heading?”.
In the following days, artists such as Dobet Gnohare, China Moses and Penn Masala will present programmes on music. Margi Madhu’s troupe & Mayakkam Oxymore will present programmes on dance. Renowned Indian photographer Amit Mehra will conduct a two day workshop on photography. A French film festival will showcase some of the best that classic French cinema has to offer.

Maqbool Fida Husain, (born September 17, 1915, Pandharpur, Maharashtra) popularly known as M F Husain, is one of India‘s best known artists and his work over a career of over seven decades has been prolific.According to Forbes magazine, he has been called the “Picasso of India”.

At an early age he learnt the art of calligraphy and practiced the Kulfic khat with its geometric forms. He also learnt to write poetry while staying with an uncle in a madrasa in Baroda, an art that has stayed with him through his life. His early education was perfunctory but Husain’s love of drawing was evident even at this stage. Whenever he got a chance he would strap his painting gear to his bicycle and drive out to the surrounding countryside of Indore to paint the landscape. In 1937 he reached Mumbai determined to become an artist, with hardly any money and lived m a cheap room in a by lane inhabited by pimps and prostitutes. Initially Husain apprenticed himself to a painter of cinema hoardings which he would paint with great dexterity perched on scaffolding sometimes in the middle of traffic.

Husain was noticed for the first time in 1947 when he won an award at the annual exhibition of the Bombay Art Society. Subsequently he was invited by Souza to join the Progressive Artist’s Group. A great deal of experimentation in the early years led to some remarkable works Re Between The Spider And The Lamp, Zameen and Man. By 1955 he was one of the leading artists in India and had been awarded the Padma Shri. He was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. Along with several solo exhibitions he had major retrospectives in Mumbai in 1969, in Calcutta in 1973 and in Delhi in 1978. He has participated in many international shows which include Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1982; Six Indian Painters, Tate Gallery, London 1985; Modem Indian Painting, Hirschhom Museum, Washington 1986 and Contemporary Indian Art, Grey Art Gallery, New York 1986.

In 1967 he won the Golden Bear at the International Film Festival at Berlin for his documentary Through the Eyes of a Painter and has made several short films since then. Husain was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Padma Vibhushan in 1989 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. One of the most charismatic artists in India today, he is known for his emphatic understanding of the human situation and his speedy evocation of it in paint. The early evolution of his painterly language was overtaken by adventurous forays into installations and performance art. His experimentations with new forms of art are both unexpected and pioneering. Husain went on to become the highest paid painter in India. His single canvases have fetched up to $2 million at a recent Christie’s auction. At the age of 92 Husain was to be given the prestigious Raja Ravi Varma award by the government of Kerala.

The artist now lives in mumbai.

For more paintings of M. F. Husain Visit www.indianartideas.com or contact us at info@indianartideas.com.

A dispute which saw the auction of 1903 Picasso painting owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber halted, has been resolved.

The work, Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, was to be auctioned in 2006 but it was withdrawn at the last minute over claims about its Nazi-era history.A German man, Professor Julius Schoeps, claimed his ancestor was forced to sell the work during the 1930s.It had been expected to fetch up to $60m (£37.6m) when it was listed for sale at Christie’s, New York.

A judge stopped the sale after Professor Schoeps, an heir to Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, claimed his ancestor had to sell the Picasso at a low price after being forced to flee his mansion.At the time, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation said the claims were “utterly spurious”.
Settlement
Mr von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, whose family had converted from Judaism to Christianity, died in 1935.In a statement on Thursday, his heirs announced they had reached a settlement agreement with the trustees of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, relinquishing all claims of title to the painting.
The foundation said it was “pleased” by the annoucement.It is not known what will happen to the painting now.Lord Lloyd-Webber bought the painting in 1995 for £18m. At the time he said the artwork was “mesmeric”.
The musician’s foundation had planned to donate the money raised from the auction to a variety of arts charities.

It was a colourful palette for the visual art community as artists, galleries, collectors and academics had something to remember 2009 for. From the increase in art shows to the emergence of new media art, to styles that were either refined or invented, it seemed like the year was just what the visual arts needed. It was also a year of international reckoning with the Art Expo holding at the National Museum in Lagos and sculptor El Anatsui receiving the 25,000 euro Prince Claus Award. Competing for the headlines in the past year were the death of Suzanne Wenger, aka Adunni Olorisha; the murder of art promoter and curator at Pendulum Gallery, Peter Areh, and art teacher and sculptor Lamidi Fakeye, who passed away on Christmas Day.

Photography and new art

In retrospect, photography deserves praise for making a bold showing. Major events like the Nigerian Art Competition recognised this genre of new media. In particular, there was a photography exhibition at the Omenka Gallery featuring top brass in Nigerian photography: Tam Fiofori, Amaize Ojeikere, Sunmi Smart-Cole and Kelechi Amadi Obi. There was also George Osodi’s “Drivers Dexterity”. Other representatives of new media art were performance artist Jelili Atiku’s “Agbo Rago”, and Emeka Ogboh’s sound installation.

Titled “Identity: an imagined state”, the first video art exhibition also took place at the Centre for Contemporary Art. Rom Isichei’s “State of Being” and Victor Ehikhamenor’s “Mirrors and Mirages” are examples of exhibitions with the use of material and new ideas as a focal point in 2009. Pop art was indigenised in the hands of Diseye Tantua and Lemi Ghariokwu with their exhibitions at the Signature Gallery and Artistic License respectively. Nnena Okore’s use of discarded, local material in “Of Topography and Earth…” was one of the major shows of 2009.

The year of the international

Organised by the Art Galleries Association of Nigeria and the National Gallery of Art, the International Art Expo featured 36 galleries from around the country and, for the first time, included a gallery from Benin Republic. In October, it rained works from about 200 artists as the Society of Nigerian Artists held their yearly juried exhibition tagged “October Rain”. A month later, Abuja became a beehive as African visual artists assembled in the capital city for the African Regional Summit and Exhibition on Visual Arts that featured 50 artists from Nigeria and 23 from other African countries. In November, Nigeria’s Uche Okpai-Iroha beat other photographers from across Africa to win the highest prize at the Bamako Biennale. The National Art Competition with the theme “The Nigeria I see” ended with the winners going home with N750, 000 and the opportunity to have their works exhibited. The Visual Arts Society of Nigeria’s ‘Open House’ exhibition took place at the Mydrim Gallery amidst controversy.

Schools and books

Nigerian Art schools did not fail to represent as every school put its cards on the table. YabaTech led the way closely followed by the Auchi School. The Benin School experienced an awakening and the Osogbo School held its own, even after the death of its matron Suzanne Wenger. The school held a show at Quintessence in Lagos and Rahmon Olugunna’s works brought a contemporary edge to the Osogbo Art school.

The launch of Sylvester Ogbechie’s book, ‘Ben Enwonwu: The Making of a Modernist’ and that of ‘Jewels of Nomadic Images’ on Bruce Onobrakpeya’s art were some of the artistic landmarks of 2009. In December, the Goethe Institut launched a collection of images of artists invading public spaces titled ‘Lagos: Art in public spaces.’

As things stand, the visual art community looks set to draw from the gains and losses of 2009 for an improved 2010.