Sunday, October 3, 2010

‘Besides Paris’: Artists with their hearts and roots in India

An important exhibition at the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata, entitled ‘Besides Paris’ featured the works of 18 noteworthy artists residing and working in France. Inaugurated in September, the show gave viewers an opportunity to see exquisite works of art, put together by curator Shaheen Meral. The curator stated:
“From Sher-Gil to the gamut of artists at present living and working in Paris – from the oldest arriving in the 50s to the more recent adventurers, all have been moved by the magnetic pull of this grand city.”
The wide variety of works on view included varied styles and mediums. The title read: ‘Besides Paris’. Yes indeed, there was a world beyond Paris, though for hundreds of years, several artists chose to live and work in the country and made it their home. Writing about the show, Jhupu Adhikari stated in an article:
“I remember hitchhiking my way through France to reach Paris, just so that I could walk the streets that so many illustrious artists had done before me, hoping to see the sights that they had recreated in their immortal works. The exhibition is also special in many ways. To begin with, it has been designed to optimize the drama of each work, with interesting and specially lit niches and alcoves. It brings to the Indian public, the works of senior artists who have made Paris their home for decades along with young painters with new techniques and finally, it shows us that no matter where an Indian artist goes, his heart remains in India."
The exhibit started with the works by Amrita Sher-Gil, whose work ‘Mother and Child’ forms part of The Birla Academy’s precious collection. It reminded that the artist’s stint in Paris to study art, where she also discovered her strong Indian roots.

The exhibition was divided in two broad sections, namely ‘Sacred Modernities’ and ‘Celestial Bodies’. The first section brings us the works of artists Sujata Bajaj, Anju Chaudhuri, Narayan Akkitham, Lakshmi Dutt, Bhawqani Katoch, Rajendra Dhawan, SH Raza, Viswanadan Velu, and Inderjeet Sahdev. The second section included works by Madhu Mangal Basu, Sakti Burman, Maya Burman, Utpal Chakraborty, Gadadhar Ojha, Sharmila Roy, Debesh Goswami, Nitin Shroff, and Jiwan Singh.

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