K.H. Ara: Still life with Flowers

Born in 1914, K. H. Ara, a founder member of the Progressive Artists’ Group, evolved his trademark style, through nudes and still-life paintings. He was a modernist for whom the form and language of art preceded all other social and political motivations. This evolved a certain eclecticism which led him in an exploration of his own style.

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K.H. Ara: Still life with Flowers

Francis N Souza Head- Ink on Paper

Francis Newton Souza was born in 1924 in Saligao, Goa. Souza was expelled for his behavior while studying at the Sir J J School of Art in Mumbai. In 1947, he founded the Progressive Artists' Group along with S H Raza, M F Husain, and K H Ara, among others. Souza's style created thought-provoking and powerful images.

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Francis N Souza Head- Ink on Paper

Jamini Roy's 1930's Alpana on Cloth

Jamini Roy, who was inspired by folk traditions created an Alpana or a floral motif that was considered to be sacred painting in Bengal because it was done on special occasions. The alpana which is usually done with hands and rice paint on the floor was done with tempera on cloth instead.

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Jamini Roy's 1930's Alpana on Cloth

Bimal Dasgupta Abstract Landscape

Bimal Dasgupta spent his childhood in Behrampur in Bengal. After completing his art education from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, and he embarked on a career as a landscape artist. Bimal Dasgupta’s paintings present variations on the theme of petals.

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Bimal Dasgupta Abstract Landscape

K S Kulkarni's Abstract Landscape

After a diploma in Fine Arts specializing in Murals in 1940 and a postgraduate course from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, KS Kulkarni went to Delhi in 1943 to study textile design. In 1945, he quit his job and joined the art department of the Delhi Polytechnic and became a member of Delhi’s All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society.

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K S Kulkarni's Abstract Landscape

Ganesh Haloi's Transitive Abstraction

Ganesh Haloi, born in 1936 in Jamalpur (now in Bangladesh) moved to Calcutta after the partition. As a result, he had seen the country struggle for its freedom and its own identity. Haloi’s works are known for their composition of space, color, form, and narration.  

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Ganesh Haloi's Transitive Abstraction

B Prabha 1973 Landscape - Trees

Before moving to Bombay, B Prabha studied at the Nagpur School of Art. After moving, she went on to graduate from the Sir J. J. School of Art where she met her husband who was a fellow student. B Prabha made it in the art world at a time where there were very few women artists.

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B Prabha 1973 Landscape - Trees

Krishen Khanna: Bandwala with Dog

On the canvas, Krishen Khanna's main concern has been with the human condition and its moral predicament. His approach to this came from a search for allegories that lent themselves to pictorial interpretation and irony. One of his most popular themes is the ‘bandwallahs’ whom Khanna encountered when he was driving out of the Garhi studios in New Delhi.

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Krishen Khanna: Bandwala with Dog

Biren De Tantric's Abstraction

Known for his Neo-Tantric paintings, Biren De molded an artistic career for himself across five decades, beginning as a portrait painter. The early works were figurative and strongly influenced by Post-Impressionist European painters.

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Biren De Tantric's Abstraction

Jamini Roy's : Sculpture Sketch

Jamini Roy’s inspiration for folk art led him to experiment with sculpture along with paintings and sketches even though he had no formal sculpture training. This artwork depicts a preparatory sketch of three sculptures similar to crude dolls from folk art.

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Jamini Roy's : Sculpture Sketch

Francis N Souza's Noel Chemical

Francis Newton Souza was one of modern India’s leaders of art and is known for his organic and complex growth in his works. In 1976, Souza migrated to New York and redefined his style of art.

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Francis N Souza's Noel Chemical

Jamini Roy's Early Village Women

Jamini Roy's rejection of the Western academic style of painting led to him being inspired by  Bengali folk paintings. Before he made the complete switch to the pat style paintings, he was depicting village life and folk. This work shows a personal reconstruction of another Indian reality that was often not seen in urban areas.

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Jamini Roy's Early Village Women

Francis Newton Souza's Goan Village

Born in 1924, Souza is best known for being one of the founding members of the Progressive Artists Group. Francis Newton Souza’s ‘Goan Village’  is an early masterpiece of the Goa-born artist.

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Francis Newton Souza's Goan Village

Ram Kumar : Mazes of the Mind

Ram Kumar was an essential part of the first generation of postcolonial 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.

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Ram Kumar : Mazes of the Mind

The Course of the Empire Series

One of the United State’s first landscape artists, Thomas Cole, can be considered as the father of the Hudson River School. Cole romanticized the wilderness of upstate New York. To him, wilderness and nature were meant to be admired and respected. It was never meant to be controlled, tamed, and made civilized.

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The Course of the Empire Series

Art History 101: What is Modernism?

The Tate Modern states that Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life.

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Art History 101: What is Modernism?

What is Abstract Expressionism?

New York City was home to the founders of abstract expressionism. These artists became known as the New York school as a result. They were inspired by the surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind. Within abstract expressionism were two broad groupings: the action painters - who attacked their canvases with expressive brush strokes and and the colour field painters - who filled their canvases with large areas of a single colour.

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What is Abstract Expressionism?

Bimal Dasgupta(1917–95) Overview

Bimal Dasgupta (1917 – 1995) was one of the front runners of watercolor traditions in Indian art during the second half of the twentieth century. His  of the medium expanded the possibilities of painting methods, beyond the components of academic realism that was instructed in art schools

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Bimal Dasgupta(1917–95) Overview

Can Art be an Alternative Asset?

There is little doubt that Art (primarily consisting of paintings and sculptures) is an investment asset. It has been further argued that Art is also an alternative asset, implying that returns (from Art) have a low correlation with the stock markets and, if included in one's investment portfolio, improves the risk-reward profile (increase the Sharpe ratio).

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Can Art be an Alternative Asset?

Of Meatwallahs, Bulls & Butchers

Studies related to anatomy, animals, carcasses. skulls have been integral part of art since time immemorial. Somnath Hore's Meatwallah is an exceptionally rare and important canvas of a similar genre. Similar works by other artists include.

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Of Meatwallahs, Bulls & Butchers

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