Monday, July 9, 2012

Influences and motivations of a doyen of his era

Born in 1911 in the Udupi district of Karnataka, K K Hebbar belonged to an artisan family. His father would make idols of Lord Ganesha. The background in folk art made him pursue art as a career. During his formative years, he often used to draw from instinct and memory with any material available including lamp soot and peculiar red pebbles ground in gum water.

In 1964, he got an opportunity to see the remains of the mystifying Mayan civilization situated in Mexico. The sight of the ruined remains of where the temple of the glorious Sun & the Moon once stood inspired him to paint. In his quest to connect with the roots of his land and culture, he observed the illustrations in Jain Manuscripts, the Ajanta murals as well as Rajput and Mughal miniatures.

Several of his solos were held at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (1993); Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (1987, 1980, 1978); All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi (1973); Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (1971); Bonythan Art Gallery, Australia (1969); All India Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures, traveling to USSR, Poland and West Germany (1953); Salon de Mai, Paris (1951) apart from show in London, Paris and New York as well as participations in Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil (1959) and the national Exhibitions (1958, 1957, 1956), and Venice Biennale, Italy (1955).

His selected posthumous exhibitions include 'An Artist's Quest: K.K Hebbar- A Retrospective', at National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bangalore; New Delhi and Mumbai (2011-12); 'The Body Unbound', Rubin Museum of Art, New York (2011-12); ‘Manifestations IV, V, VI', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi (2011, 2010); 'Indian Art After Independence: Selected Works from the Collections of Virginia & Ravi Akhoury and Shelley & Donald Rubin', Emile Gallery, Hempstead (2009); and 2009 'Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art' at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2009).

No comments:

Post a Comment