Impressionism in Renoir's Painting

The Frick Collection presents an exhibition of nine iconic Impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, offering the first comprehensive study of the artist's engagement with the full-length format, which was associated with the official Paris Salon in the decade that saw the emergence of a fully fledged Impressionist aesthetic.

The project was inspired by La Promenade of 1875–76, the most significant Impressionist work in the Frick's permanent collection. It explores Renoir's portraits and subject pictures of this type from the mid-1870s to mid-1880s. Intended for public display, these vertical grand-scale canvases are among the artist's most daring and ambitious presentations of contemporary subjects and are today considered masterpieces of Impressionism.

On view only at the Frick, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting is a landmark exhibition, bringing together several beloved masterpieces from around the world. Works on loan from international institutions are La Parisienne (1874) from the National Museum Wales, Cardiff; The Umbrellas (c. 1881 and 1885) from The National Gallery, London (first time on view in the United States since 1886); and Dance in the City and Dance in the Country (1882–83) from the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Works on loan from American institutions are The Dancer (1874) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Madame Henriot "en travesti" (1875–76) from the Columbus Museum of Art; Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (1879) from The Art Institute of Chicago; and Dance at Bougival (1882–83) from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibition will be shown in the Frick's East Gallery. Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting was organized by Colin B. Bailey, the Frick's Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator.

The exhibition and accompanying catalogue will offer fresh insights into Renoir's complex ambitions when, as a young artist, he submitted works to both the avant-garde Impressionist exhibitions and the official Salon.

A look at India's sculpture scene and its potential for collectors

With the contemporary art market getting globally integrated, it has been observed that sculptures have generally outperformed market benchmarks considerably, many achieving hammer prices well above their high estimates at prominent auctions. Sculptures by Ettore Bugatti, Alberto Giacometti Auguste Rodin and Isamu Noguchi achieved among the highest measurable rate of price rise.

There has been a marked rise in demand not only for sculptures, but also for other three-dimensional art objects. And the trend is likely to be visible in India as well, in the near future. Sculptures by many Indian artists are underpriced so they are worth acquiring up, experts think.

Masters like Himmat Shah, Nagji Patel, Somnath Hore, Sarbari Roychowdhury, Satish Gujral, Ajit Chakravarty and Meera Mukherjee are all available in the reasonable price range of Rs 5 lakh onward. The contemporaries like Subodh Gupta , Bharti Kher, Chintan Upadhyay, Ravinder Reddy , Jitish Kallat, KS Radhakrishnan, Bimal Kundu and Probir Gupta fall roughly in the price bracket Rs 2-75 lakh.

Akhil Chandra Das, Debanjan Roy, Tapas Biswas, Subrata Biswas, Ketan Amin and Adip Datta are among the upcoming sculptors, whose works are available in the price range of Rs 50,000 onward. Compared to other forms, this segment definitely has greater scope for higher returns on investment (ROI).

Sculpture in modern times has failed to gaining currency among collectors, though the trend is gradually changing, more so in international markets. As far as India is concerned, it has yet to acquire the prominence it deserves. The prices remain low compared to the international market, though the quality of modern Indian sculptures is as good as those of their contemporaries abroad.

Indian artists are trying to experiment with the medium, leading to a blend of cut-n-paste aesthetic with the fabricated for fresh contexts and meanings. They are looking to explore varied possibilities in order to push the boundaries of their creative practice. A few like Akhil Chandra Das emphasize on the Indian tradition.

Changing dynamics of Indian art and collectors' approach

Auction houses and galleries are exploring new exciting avenues in the face of a challenging scenario. They are introducing fresh faces and taking art to new destinations. The market is now healthy and the prices being quoted are more realistic. What happened with the boom is that several transitory buyers, who were in it just for profit and not for the art, constituted the market. Another area that is opening up to the Indian art scene is the Far East. The market in China is beginning to explore a Pan-Asian sensibility in art.

In the ACRO Madrid some of years ago, Abir Karmarkar’s work interested a Chinese collector, and a buyer from Hong Kong expressed a lot of interest in Sarika Mehta, another new comer from Ahmedabad who has had group shows nationally and internationally. Clearly, China seems to be a new unexplored market for Indian art, where spending on art is not as unthinkable as other worse hit economies.

Now, the buyers who are putting money into art really want to have it on their walls. Also with the pricing of art becoming more affordable a new market of young corporate buyers interested in new names has come up. This will encourage a younger generation to look at art as part of their life and sift out the speculator. To encourage collectors who buy art out of a love for it, you have to make it accessible to them. Real collectors are the future of Indian art.

In this context, it is important to listen to Paul Johnson, eminent British historian and author, according to whom: "If you love works of art, read up on the subject and visit museums. Then buy because you want to possess certain objects and have them in your home to look at and enjoy.

"But don't collect in order to make money. All the great collectors loved art and trained their minds to respect and cherish it for its own sake. Not one of them collected art to make money or because it was a safe investment. Unless you share this love of art, I would give it a pass when deciding where to place your money," the expert advises.

Indian miniatures beyond Mughal art

Quite a few of us quickly tend to label Indian miniatures as Mughal art. This is perhaps because some of erstwhile miniature painting schools are for all practical purposes virtually extinct largely owing to the demise of aristocratic patronage and lack of institutional backing.

However, here is an insightful documentation that exposes us to the lesser known schools that did survive, still in the process of evolving through from generation to generation, sans support of the elite. With India fast emerging as one the major economical powers globally, is there a possibility that the so-called nouveau riche will dawn the mantle of the cultural aristocrats of the new millennium and play a proactive role in reviving the magic of ancient miniature painting traditions?

‘Indian Painting: The lesser-known traditions’ (Publisher: Niyogi Books: Pages: 216;
Photographs: 194; Price: Rs 2495) is a laudable effort in this direction. It’s meticulously edited by Anna L. Dallapiccola, who has worked as a professor of Indian Art at the South Asian Institute of Heidelberg University and also as Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University. It has scholarly contributions by several experts including Crispin Branfoot, Mary Beth Heston, Rosemary Crill, Crispin Branfoot, Samiran Boruah, T. Richard Blurton, and Jyotindra Jain among others.

The topics that the experts have covered in depth are all-encompassing and extensive like ‘Minakshi’s Wedding: Painting the Sacred Marriage in Early Modern Madurai’ (by Dr Crispin Branfoot); ‘Crossing Borders: Contemporary Folk and Tribal Artists in India’ (by Jyotindra Jain Jain); ‘Transfixed by the Arrow of Time: Phad Paintings of Rajasthan’ (by Kavita Singh): ‘Oral, Theatrical and Performative Dimensions of a Painted Scroll from Telengana’ (by Kirtana Thangavelu); ‘Reconsidering the Ramayana Murals: Paintings at the Mattancheri Palace’ (by Mary Beth Heston); and ‘The Kavad Phenomenon of Rajasthan:’ (by Nina Sabnani).

Other essays include ‘Aspects of South Indian Manuscript Paintings: Three Paintings in the Victoria & Albert Museum’ (by Rosemary Crill); ‘The Ramayana: Two 19th-century Canopies from Coastal Andhra in the V&A Museum’ (by Anna L. Dallapiccola); ‘Of Gods, Heroes and Kings: Illustrated Manuscripts from Assam’ (by Samiran Boruah); ‘Jamini Roy and the Folk Art Paradigm’ (by Sona Datta); and ‘Painting with intent: History and Variety in an Indian Painting Tradition’ (by T. Richard Blurton).

Highlighting lesser-known traditions of Indian painting

India as a rich, vast land is known to harbor a very fine visual history, including its enchanting painting traditions. Of course, not many people have the scope or opportunity to know in greater depth about the captivating courtly paintings of those of the Rajastani, Pahari and Decconi schools. The general public is treated to an occasional show here and an event there, once in a while. The Indian painting traditions have remained more in the academic realms, but for a few museum showcases – in India and abroad.

Of course, scholars from across the world have dedicated for several decades their precious time and energies for studying them. In one such endeavor, ‘Indian Painting: The lesser-known traditions’, a comprehensive collection of research papers from a conference held in Houston a few years ago, focuses on vibrant and vivacious local vernacular idioms that still survive and continue to evolve, adjusting to political and social changes.

Collectively, the essays bring to the fore the artistic richness of the time-span, starting from the late 17th century to the present day. They give a thorough insight in the traditional forms of fascinating folk art painting. Five of them are dedicated to the different aspects of south Indian painting on a wide variety of media like paper, fabric and temple walls.

More contemporary in nature, in a way, is the essay on current events like the assassination death of former Indira Gandhi or the 9/11 terrorist attacks are some of the themes seen in modern-day pata paintings. Finally the careers of a number of tribal and folk artists are examined. Although compiled by experts, the book should not wean away laypersons and non-scholars.

Despite’ the provenances of the illustrious authors or contributors, the documentation does manage to present a reader-friendly collection of insightful essays that will most defiantly appeal to both to professional art historical academics and the novice art aficionado with an apparent interest in Indian folk art. The copy is readable and the pages are richly illustrated. In essence, it’s a fine example of art historical literature, which gives the lesser-known folk art traditions of the country the kind of attention they deserve.

Indian museums gear up for future challenges

In what can be termed as a first-of-its-kind move, which will allow India’s museum professionals to equip themselves with best practices and tools in the domain, an international training program has just been launched. The five-month long Leadership Training Program is aimed at training both senior and mid-level museum officials from all across the country.

The project is being executed with support and active involvement of the British Museum experts. An experts’ team is led by Neil MacGregor, the world-renowned institution's director.
The comprehensive program is part of the reform agenda of Union Ministry of Culture in the domain of archeology and conservation.

Its idea is to put a core group of museum professionals in close touch and meaningful interaction with the very best in the world in order to help groom a solid base of professionals, who will then pass on the inputs by others in the field.

The initial training session as part of this international training program for India’s museum professionals took place in the third week of January in New Delhi, involving up to 20 professionals drawn from a dozen or so museums. It's to be followed by a session in March in London and the concluding session in May in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s historic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (previously The Prince of Wales Museum) has launched an ambitious project to restore the precious Panchatantra translations and illustrations. The Bank of America is funding the Rs 5 million restoration project - a fact it highlighted in its recent full-page advertisements in all leading Indian news publications.

Senior curator Vandana Prapanna and the museum’s art conservation, research & training head, Anupam Shah are spearheading the year-long ambitious project. It will be completed in two phases that include the reintegration of illustrations and Persian texts, and then the restoration of documents in collaboration with technical experts to rid them of discolored pigments and physical damages caused with passage of time over the past few centuries.

First retrieved from a major fire in the 17th century during a fight between the British and the Marathas, a London-based collector of Indian miniature paintings acquired them and later donated to CSMVS this historic collection, giving it a new lease of life.

International art galleries highlight India’s art traditions

Two new galleries at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston celebrate rare sculptural gems from India as well as other countries from South and Southeast Asia, starting with a collection, entitled ‘Gems of Rajput Painting’. The paintings and manuscript illustrations on view represent the peak of the artistic traditions developed at workshops associated with the many Rajput courts.

This exquisite stream of Indian painting, commissioned during the 16th to 19th centuries by rulers (Rajputs or ‘sons of kings’) in Rajasthan who shared a culture centered on Sanskrit poetry, Hindu worship and the fierce pride of warrior clans, was discovered only in the past 100 years by Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), the MFA’s first curator of Indian art.

Usually painted on paper in watercolor (gouache), often brightly hued with gold accents, they often illustrate poetic texts and are small in size. A 21st-century take on the Rajput vision of elite court life reflects in ‘Horse with Gold Head’ Dress (Udaipur, 2007) by contemporary artist Raja Ram Sharma, who has used traditional Rajput techniques to create it.

Thematic groupings in this exhibit are designed to let viewers easily follow the material, illuminating the conventions these artists followed and played with in their wonderful work. “Rajput painting is one of the great traditions of Indian art, and yet for some, the exaggerated bodies, incredibly bold colors, and use of multiple perspectives can be dizzying,” the curator Laura Weinstein explains.

Over 100 works in the all-new South Asian & Southeast Asian Sculpture Gallery highlight the rich artistic traditions of countries like India. Many of the art objects on view have only recently been conserved. These exquisite pieces are celebrated not only for their unique cultural identity, but also as distinct reflections of 2,000 years of major exchange of ideas and aesthetics.

The world-renowned museum strives to present South and Southeast Asian art from a new angle. Through apt juxtapositions plus the occasional wall text, the curator invites visitors to ferret out the finer elements that cultures share and also those, which make each one distinct.