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M V Dhurandhar : The female muse

Born in 1867 in Kolhapur, Dhurandhar was a master of watercolor. One of the most popular Indian artists, he was inspired to be an artist after he saw Raja Ravi Varma’s works of art. He studied at Sir JJ School of Art in Bombay and was an expert in the western academic style of painting. Although his subject matter was Indian in character, his works had the style of realism that western artists of that time had.

Abanindranath Tagore : Asian Art

Abanindranath Tagore is a pioneering figure of modernism in India. Inspired by nationalist leaders who were demanding independence from the British, many Indians were using local products instead of imported and expensive foreign products.

Understanding Types of Prints

In simple terms, a print is created where ink is transferred from a block or plate on to a paper. Depending on the technique used, there are different outcomes and as a result, they have been further divided into categories. Each printing technique has its own distinctive style depending on the tools and materials used.

Chittaprosad : Linocut Prints

Born in 1915 in Bengal, Chittaprosad was a self taught artist and illustrator. He was educated in Chittagong, Bengal. He had no formal training as he refused to join the Government College of Art, Calcutta. He was also a member of the Communist party in India at the time and rejected the caste system.

Tribal Caucasian Kazak Carpet

Caucasian carpets are highly influenced by rural designs. These carpets are made of materials from specific tribal provinces, usually displaying bold geometric patterns with primary colors. These carpets are specific to regions like Daghestan, Shirvan, Gendje, Kazakh, and Quba.

1st View of the City of Benaras

Born 1775, James Moffat was a British engraver in India. He arrived in Calcutta in 1789 and trained as an engraver there. He was one of the many 18th century soldiers and travelers from Britain that began sketching detailed landscapes of the country.

The Twelve Caesars : Suetonius

De Vita Caesarum or the Twelve Caesars was originally written in 121 AD by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. More commonly known as Suetonius, he was the secretary to Hadrian the Emperor in the Roman Empire. He dedicated this book to his friend Gaius Septicius Clarus, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 119.

Orign of Black Hole of Calcutta

The Scots Magazine is one of the only copies of an 18th-century publication that contains a first-person account of the imprisonment of the British in the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta in Fort William.

India’s Wildlife and Shikar Culture

India is a country that has had a rich history of hunting. With an abundance of animals and land, big game hunting was very popular and considered to be an elite sport.

An Account of East India Affairs

The London Chronicle, Vol II, No. 3346 from Tuesday, April 9 to Thursday, April 11, 1782, discusses the state of affairs in India as told by the East India Company at the House of Commons.

Henry Singleton's Art In India

Henry Singleton first rose to prominence as a contemporary history painter in a family that was known best for their miniature artworks. Born into an artistic family, Henry Singleton was raised by uncle William Singleton who painted portraits and miniatures. Although he dabbled in miniatures as well, his well-known works were portraits and historic paintings.

Rembrandt and his Mughal Art

Rembrandt Harmnenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch artist who became well known for his artworks that demonstrated realism with the use of light and shadow. Anyone who is interested in art history would know that Rembrandt was a great artist. Not only did he became well known in the Dutch Golden Age but he continues to well respected all over the world today.

Manu Parekh: Bhagalpur blinding

Manu Parekh was born in 1939 in Gujarat. Parekh completed a Diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, in 1962. Parekh’s early work explored the relationships between man and nature, as he thought that it was an energetic link that had to be celebrated.

Souza and Husain in the 1940s

Although the first exhibition of the Progressive Artists Group was held in 1949, the group formally came into existence on December 15, 1947.

Evolution of Photography in India

The camera officially reached India in 1855. However, it was not until much later that it was picked up as a career or even an alternative kind of artform.

Somnath Hore’s Pictorial Language

Born in 1921 in Chittagong, undivided India, Somnath Hore studied at the Government Art College in Calcutta. His works represent the turbulent lives at the time of the Bengal Famine of 1943. His pictorial language in his sketches, sculptures, and prints is a reaction to one of the major crises that hit Bengal in the 20th century.

Maqbool Fida Husain Horses, Nude

Maqbool Fida Husain was born in 1913 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. In 1948, he was invited by F N Souza to join the Progressive Artists' Group in Mumbai. When he took up painting as an art form, he blended folk, tribal, and mythological art to create vibrantly contemporary, living art forms.

Zarina Hashmi Silkscreen Print

Born in 1937 in Aligarh, India, Zarina Hashmi studied Mathematics before she tried her hand at printmaking when she visited Rajasthan in the 1960s. Hashmi went on to study intaglio in Paris and woodblock printing Tokyo. Her works are known for her use of lines on handmade paper and are often used to depict political borders and memories of violence from the partition.

Monochrome Ram Kumar Landscape

Ram Kumar was an essential part of the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists. He was born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in 1924 and was a member of the Bombay Progressive Artists Group along with other popular artists like Husain, Raza, and Sadanand Bakre.

Sudhir Patwardhan's Early Drawings

Sudhir Patwardhan is born in 1949 in Pune, Maharashtra, and is a self-taught artist and a practicing radiologist. He began painting in the 1970s when he moved to Bombay. Patwardhan’s artwork revolves around the panorama of an urban and natural environment The everyday human figure is often a common subject matter of Patwardhan's works.