More than a decade ago, it was only those with a dedicated interest in art who visited the galleries to check artworks. Steadily the audience has grown and awareness levels have increased thanks to the Internet. The viewership for exhibits of contemporary Indian art has gone up significantly during the recent years as interest in it has developed.
Keeping this in mind, a series of dynamic and vast museum shows and collections over the last few years have tried to touch upon the themes of cultural assimilation that concern not only India, but also many expanding Asian countries. In this context, mention must be made of The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). Its mission of is to celebrate artistic and cultural creativity by collecting and interpreting objects of art in ways that increase knowledge, stimulate the senses, and engage the mind.
Through its exhibits, publications, programs and related activities, PEM strives to create experiences that will transform people's lives by enhancing their perspectives and knowledge of themselves and the broader world. A major installation of works from its collection of Indian art underlined how art was an integral part of daily life with paintings, textiles, sculpture and other forms ingrained in the people’s religious practices as well as in the expression of their social position. Another significant show, entitled ’Painting the Modern in India’ featured several renowned painters who came of age during the peak of India’s freedom movement.
To liberate themselves from a position at the margins of an art world shaped by the colonial establishment, they organized path-breaking associations - the Calcutta Artists Group (1943), the Progressive Artists Group (1947), and the Delhi Shilpi Chakra (1949). They developed new pioneering approaches to painting, and repositioned their own practices internationally as well as in context of the ancient history of art in the country. These artists created hybrid styles, an under-appreciated albeit essential element of the broad sweep of art in the 20th century. After independence, they explored new opportunities in major art centers across the globe, intensifying their artistic quests, as the museum curators emphasized.
Keeping this in mind, a series of dynamic and vast museum shows and collections over the last few years have tried to touch upon the themes of cultural assimilation that concern not only India, but also many expanding Asian countries. In this context, mention must be made of The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). Its mission of is to celebrate artistic and cultural creativity by collecting and interpreting objects of art in ways that increase knowledge, stimulate the senses, and engage the mind.
Through its exhibits, publications, programs and related activities, PEM strives to create experiences that will transform people's lives by enhancing their perspectives and knowledge of themselves and the broader world. A major installation of works from its collection of Indian art underlined how art was an integral part of daily life with paintings, textiles, sculpture and other forms ingrained in the people’s religious practices as well as in the expression of their social position. Another significant show, entitled ’Painting the Modern in India’ featured several renowned painters who came of age during the peak of India’s freedom movement.
To liberate themselves from a position at the margins of an art world shaped by the colonial establishment, they organized path-breaking associations - the Calcutta Artists Group (1943), the Progressive Artists Group (1947), and the Delhi Shilpi Chakra (1949). They developed new pioneering approaches to painting, and repositioned their own practices internationally as well as in context of the ancient history of art in the country. These artists created hybrid styles, an under-appreciated albeit essential element of the broad sweep of art in the 20th century. After independence, they explored new opportunities in major art centers across the globe, intensifying their artistic quests, as the museum curators emphasized.
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