Results for "progressive artists group"


Calcutta and the Lost Story of Modern Indian Art

Few artists in India's modern history have lived a life as inspiring as Satish Gujral's. Losing his hearing at a very tender age, he transformed silence into creative expression. A student of both the Mayo School of Art in Lahore and the Sir J.J School of Art in Bombay, Satish Gujral's creative journey spanned painting, sculpture, mural and even architecture.

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Calcutta and the Lost Story of Modern Indian Art

Bhanu Athaiya's Feminist Vision

Bhanu Athaiya often described herself simply as “a painter who came to cinema.” She carried the discipline of her art training into every film she worked on, treating costume as an extension of character. Actresses who worked with her — from Waheeda Rehman to Zeenat Aman — remembered how she would sit with them, discuss each scene, and ensure that they felt completely at ease. Rekha called her “a mentor, creative guide, and friend,” while Meena Kumari’s first words to her on the set of Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam were, “Bhanu, take care of me.” That instinct — to listen, to understand, and to protect — defined her feminist practice.

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Bhanu Athaiya's Feminist Vision

My Sculpture Garden Grows

To be precise my garden is currently two flower pots but as any other Oval Maidan (Mumbai) or Central Park (NY) facing resident would say – the entire oval (park) is my garden!

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My Sculpture Garden Grows

Bhanu Athaiya - pre-1953 Catalogue Raisonne

A rare catalogue raisonné of Bhanu Athaiya’s fine art and formative years at the J.J. School of Art—spotlighting the only woman in the Progressive Artists’ Group, who redefined her artistic journey through costume design and became India’s first Oscar winner.

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Bhanu Athaiya - pre-1953 Catalogue Raisonne

Art and Dissent in the 1940s

The 1940s were a decade of political urgency and artistic transformation in India—especially in Bombay, where anti-colonial movements, Marxist cultural activism, and encounters with European émigrés sparked a radical new visual language. As the Quit India Movement mobilized students and artists alike, figures like P.C. Joshi and Mulk Raj Anand rallied for an art that was politically engaged and socially conscious. The Progressive Writers’ Association, the Calcutta Group, and the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) all shaped a cultural climate where art and resistance were deeply intertwined.

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Art and Dissent in the 1940s

From Rarh to Modernism: Sunil Madhav Sen and the Calcutta Group

Sunil Madhav Sen (1910-1979) was a modern artist whose art echoed the soil, people and spirit of Rarh Bengal. Though he studied law, his heart belonged to colors. Leaving behind a legal career, he turned to canvas, shaping a visual language that drew from the red soil of his childhood, the rhythms of tribal life and the quiet dignity of everyday moments.

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From Rarh to Modernism: Sunil Madhav Sen and the Calcutta Group

F.N. Souza

A Timeline of His Life, Art, and Legacy // This timeline traces the life and work of Francis Newton Souza (1924–2002), mapping the personal losses, political upheavals, and artistic milestones that shaped one of modern India’s most radical and uncompromising painters. Born in colonial Goa and raised between Bombay and Saligao, Souza’s early years were marked by rebellion—against convention, religious orthodoxy, and artistic mediocrity.

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F.N. Souza

F.N. Souza: A Continuum -

Evolution of the Indian Modernist Painter Prinseps, in collaboration with Dhoomimal Gallery, presented F.N. Souza: A Continuum. A landmark exhibition  A landmark exhibition celebrating F.N. Souza's Centenary Year. Opening on March 25, 2025, in New Delhi, the exhibition invited viewers to look beyond the myth and into the inner world of one of India’s most influential modernists.

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F.N. Souza: A Continuum -

Tradition in Abstraction: The Folk-Cubist Synthesis of Sunil Madhav Sen

In the ever-evolving landscape of modern Indian art, few names evoke the quiet strength and earthy lyricism of rural Bengal like Sunil Madhav Sen (1910-1979). A pioneer who chose brush over gravel, Sunil Madhav Sen’s journey from Law to the heart of India’s modernist movement is a testament to the power of personal calling.

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Tradition in Abstraction: The Folk-Cubist Synthesis of Sunil Madhav Sen

Cricket Legends of Colonial India: The Mangaldas Family Autograph Book

Among the many treasures preserved in the Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai family collection is a slim, timeworn album belonging to his great-granddaughter Meenal. Its pages, still intact after a century, neatly inscribed with signatures and photographs, carry the imprints of cricketing legends from the early decades of the twentieth century.

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Cricket Legends of Colonial India: The Mangaldas Family Autograph Book

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