An ongoing exhibition at Shridharani Gallery in Triveni Kala Sangam offers a glimpse into the rich and varied artworks from India’s colourful history
The exhibition by Kolkata-based Janus Art Gallery, Bengal Panorama — The legacy and the continuity offers a range of paintings that highlight the history of artworks in India. The show focuses on the variations and unique individual styles innovated by each artist.The artists in the exhibition represent the diversity and multiplicity in terms of their personal quest and individual artistic tendencies.
The curator of the exhibition, Soma Bhowmik elaborated on the theme, “The present show offers us a glimpse into a rich and variegated collection of art-works from this colorful history. Cutting across more than a century, from the great masters of the early phase to the young contemporaries of today, through the major artists from the post-independence era and the 70s & 80s, this show is an assortment that represents the diversity in style, content and medium. It provides a cross-section of this expansive time representing artists working with different concerns in different mediums.”
The thematic range in this show covers various subjects like simple visual representation of observed facts, stylised imaging of daily life and surroundings, genre paintings, highly personalised view of human struggle and individual psychological expressions. Similarly, the mediums used by the artists include water-color on paper, oil on canvas, drawings, and sculptures.
The show features works by stalwarts like Nandalal Bose, Dhiren Brahma, Paritosh Sen, Taraprasad Biswas, Manik Bandopadhyay, Priyo Prasad Gupta, Purna Chakroborty, Sajal Roy and others. Followed by eminent artists from the next generation include Sunil Das, Ramananda Bandopadhyay, Jogen Chowdhury, lalu Prasad Shaw, Prakash Karmakar, Bijon Chowdhury, Bimal Kar, and many more.
They are not only landmark artists in history but each one of them is associated with a unique signature style of their own. The younger contemporaries Ananda Moy Banerjee, Debabrata Sarkar, Suvajit Samanta too have a
stylistic variety that is bold and promising.
In terms of handling of the various mediums and a huge range of thematic concerns, the artists in the exhibition are showcasing the crucial confluence of historical mission and individual predilection.