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Nandalal Bose’s Radha Krishna: An Epitome of the Bengal School

Radha and Krishna have appeared in Indian painting for centuries, their story retold across manuscript illustration, temple painting, and courtly miniature traditions. In the early twentieth century, the Bengal School sought to reshape the language of modern Indian painting. Instead of following the heavily modelled realism taught in colonial art schools, its artists turned to earlier Indian traditions—Ajanta murals, sculpture, and miniature painting—for inspiration.

Nandalal Bose’s Radha Krishna: An Epitome of the Bengal School

Saraswati in Two Artistic Worlds: Sunayani Devi and Baburao Painter

When the Orientalist William Jones wrote his hymn to Saraswati in the late eighteenth century, he described the goddess as the “patroness of fine arts, especially of Musick and Rhetorick. (archaic)” Reflecting on the poetic tradition surrounding her, Jones remarked that it evokes the Ragmala—the “Necklace of Musical Modes,” which he called “the most beautiful union of Painting with poetical Mythology and the genuine theory of Musick.” [1] His observation captures something essential about Saraswati’s place in Indian culture: she belongs at once to music, language, and the visual arts.

Saraswati in Two Artistic Worlds: Sunayani Devi and Baburao Painter

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.

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,” [1] while Meena Kumari’s first words to her on the set of Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam were, “Bhanu, take care of me.” [2] That instinct — to listen, to understand, and to protect — would come to define her feminist practice.

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.

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.

Bhanu Athaiya - pre-1953 Catalogue Raisonne

Santiniketan in Correspondence

At Santiniketan, correspondence played an essential role in artistic life. Letters, postcards, and small drawings circulated steadily between students, teachers, administrators, and friends, creating a working network through which ideas, images, and observations moved across distances. These exchanges were not incidental. They were closely aligned with Rabindranath Tagore’s educational vision, in which learning extended beyond the classroom into daily life, travel, and conversation, and in which artistic practice was embedded within lived experience rather than confined to formal instruction.

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.

Jamini Roy’s Modernism

Why Jamini Roy's Visual Language was Truly Avant-Garde This discussion examines Jamini’s invented language (of modernism) and what makes him a creative genius. This examines his crucial contribution to Modernism in India / the beginnings of true modernism in India.

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.

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

Results for "progressive artists group"

Nandalal Bose’s Radha Krishna: An Epitome of the Bengal School

Saraswati in Two Artistic Worlds: Sunayani Devi and Baburao Painter

Calcutta and the Lost Story of Modern Indian Art

Bhanu Athaiya's Feminist Vision

Art and Dissent in the 1940s

Bhanu Athaiya - pre-1953 Catalogue Raisonne

Santiniketan in Correspondence

F.N. Souza

Jamini Roy’s Modernism

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