GLORIOUS 61 YEARS OF CALCUTTA PAINTERS By Anindya Roy

There was an interesting exhibition recently held by Calcutta Painters, one of the oldest artist groups in Bengal, celebrating their 61st Annual Exhibition titled “Climacteric” at the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata. This group has gifted Bengal with many eminent artists, including Jogen Chowdhury, Bijon Chowdhury, Prokash Karmaker, and Nikhil Biswas, who were also among the founding members. Their collective artistic journey has always expressed deep concern for nature, society, and the evolving human condition. The impact of climate change and emotional shifts in contemporary life are captured through the artists’ creative processes. Alongside senior masters, new participants presented experimental works beside traditional and academic styles, enriching the exhibition with diverse expressions.

An eye-catching oil painting by Bijon Chowdhury reminded viewers of the history of humankind. This year, the group paid homage to Bijon Babu. Another major attraction was a black-and-white drawing by Jogen Chowdhury, whose continued participation inspires younger members. His simple linear treatment beautifully captures the elegance of the female face. Viewers were drawn to the modern presentation of Subrata Ghosh, whose allegorical works reflect today’s environmental crisis. His aesthetic approach, though uncommon for average viewers, strongly evokes concern for nature lost to inhumane activities.

Senior artist Sima Barua continued her traditional institutional style through sepia etchings depicting tender family narratives with graceful linear forms. The only tempera painting in the exhibition, by Swapnendu Bhumik, portrayed the darker realities of our time with soft, systematic composition. Susanta Chakraborty, long known for his oil paintings depicting masked and caustic faces, explored the pastel medium here, balancing blue and yellow tones to create atmospheric depth.

Sibaprasad Kar Chowdhuri’s non-figurative landscapes carried his signature layered color fields, creating space and dimension. Goutam Bhumik’s dramatic still lifes featured rich textures and bright hues. Abhijit Das, inspired by slums and garbage landscapes, presented mixed-media works reflecting the concern for nature. Bibek Kalyan Roy’s pencil-based landscapes offered a soothing visual experience through smoky spatial divisions. Among the sculptors, Anup Mondal presented a half-burst aluminium sculpture with a deliberately rough surface, while Raksh Sadhak experimented with mixed materials to interpret human and civil structural forms. Overall, artists of Calcutta Painters—from their foundation to the present—remain deeply connected to nature and environmental consciousness. From this perspective, the title “Climacteric” aptly reflects the theme of transition and critical change in both nature and human society.

Pratima Abhange: Threads of Memory and the Sacred by Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Pratima Abhange

Pratima Abhange's artistic practice unfolds as a deeply meaningful dialogue between India's spiritual inheritance and the complexities of contemporary life. Her works do not merely revisit mythological narratives or sacred imagery; instead, they reawaken the timeless presence of these traditions within the modern mind. Indian Puranas, epics, myths, and socio-cultural structures have never truly belonged only to the past. They continue to shape everyday values, human behaviour, ethical thought, and collective emotional life. In this sense, tradition is not a closed chapter—it is a living continuum.

Title: Manthan, Acrylic on canvas, 6X21 feet. 

            Human beings, regardless of time and place, remain psychologically and materially connected to their histories. These connections are preserved through collective memory, which functions as a cultural thread linking generations. It is through these shared memories—embedded in rituals, stories, festivals, visual symbols, songs, and family practices—that the sacred retains its presence in daily life. Drawing nourishment from this vast civilizational reservoir, Pratima Abhange constructs her own distinct artistic language. Her work becomes a space where memory and myth converge, and where the sacred becomes visible through the vocabulary of contemporary art.

            What makes Pratima Abhange's art especially striking is her confident engagement with materiality and surface. Her paintings are not simply images—they are tactile experiences. She skilfully combines acrylic colours with dense textures, layered pigments, and shimmering gold foil highlights, creating compositions that appear radiant and monumental. The presence of gold is especially significant: it does not merely function as ornamentation, but evokes associations of ritual sanctity, temple aesthetics, divine aura, and spiritual illumination. Through this combination of rich textures and luminous surfaces, her works gain depth, dramatic intensity, and a distinctive visual authority. In several compositions she also applies mural techniques in parts of the painting, reinforcing the sense of sacred wall imagery and echoing India's long tradition of temple murals and devotional pictorial storytelling.

            The narratives of her artworks are rooted in Indian spiritual and mythological traditions, yet her mode of representation aligns strongly with modern and contemporary artistic sensibilities. This duality—anchored in tradition yet energized by modernity—becomes central to her visual identity. At places, she also incorporates references to folk idioms and regional aesthetics, thereby widening the cultural horizon of her works. These inclusions are not superficial; rather, they signify her understanding that the sacred in India has always been expressed through multiple artistic registers—from classical sculpture to folk painting, from temple murals to puppetry traditions.

            Religion forms the foundation of Indian civilizational life and cannot be disregarded. The history of Indian art reveals a sustained engagement with the sacred and the mythic. From the celebrated mythological paintings of Raja Ravi Varma to the early phase of the Bengal School, and through the living traditions of South Indian devotional art, mythological figures and religious narratives have held a powerful presence. This continuous engagement has ensured that sacred imagery remains embedded in the collective psyche of Indian society, shaping the way people visualize divinity and understand morality, duty, compassion, and devotion.

            However, modern Indian art in the twentieth century gradually distanced itself from religious imagery in its attempt to align with international modernism and new aesthetic concerns. While this movement created important innovations, it also widened the gap between modern art and the common viewer. Pratima Abhange's artistic journey can be seen as an attempt to bridge this gap. She reclaims the mythic and the sacred not as nostalgia but as relevance. By drawing upon familiar divine figures while using contemporary methods of texture, abstraction, simplification, and spatial design, she reconnects art with people's emotional world and cultural consciousness. In doing so, she re-establishes art as a shared experience rather than an isolated intellectual practice.

            Her careful study of the Puranas and other classical texts lends authenticity and conceptual depth to her work. This is important because her paintings are not simply decorative representations of gods and goddesses; they reflect a thoughtful engagement with philosophical ideas, ethical dilemmas, and timeless narratives. The works featured in this exhibition include multiple depictions of Lord Rama, Goddess Sita, Lord Krishna, and Lord Ganesha. These deities are not only central to mythology—they form part of the living spiritual fabric of India. They exist within domestic worship, public festivals, temple spaces, and emotional memory. In Pratima's hands, these divine presences become both symbolic and intimate, monumental and accessible.

            The compositional structure of her works reveals a strong sense of rhythm and visual harmony. Her figures often possess a poised and musical arrangement, guiding the viewer's gaze across the surface with grace. There is a balance between movement and stillness, between narrative suggestion and meditative calm. While depicting divine forms, Pratima Abhange foregrounds not only their mythological significance but also their humanistic and practical meanings. For example, Rama is not only a mythic hero but a moral ideal; Sita becomes a symbol of strength, endurance, and dignity; Krishna represents divine playfulness, love, and cosmic wisdom; and Ganesha embodies auspicious beginnings, intelligence, and removal of obstacles. Thus, the sacred in her works does not remain distant—it becomes ethically and emotionally relatable.

            Her use of colour is equally rich and expressive. Colours in her paintings do not merely fill space—they carry mood, symbolism, and spiritual resonance. Several works feature a flat treatment of the background, which strengthens their connection to contemporary aesthetics. This flatness creates an intentional contrast: the deities and figures emerge with heightened presence, as if they have been cut out and placed against a timeless field. This approach reinforces modern visual sensibilities while preserving the iconic quality of the subject.

            The narratives of the Ramayana and Mahabharata frequently appear in her paintings, but she also explores themes beyond epic storytelling. Ganesha, in particular, emerges as one of her most beloved subjects. Two distinctive stylistic approaches can be observed in her Ganesha works. In one style, she attempts to create a three-dimensional sculptural effect through the build-up of layered colour and thick texture. Here, Ganesha appears almost like a carved or embossed presence, commanding attention through physical depth.

            In the second style, her works draw inspiration from South Indian puppet art and also reflect structural qualities reminiscent of batik. This is a highly significant visual choice, because puppet forms are traditionally connected to storytelling, ritual theatre, and folk narrative performance. Through puppet-like stylization, Pratima transforms the divine figure into a vibrant cultural symbol—one that feels rooted in the community and not confined to temple hierarchy. Texture becomes a major attraction in these works, whether through impasto or layered effects. These layered surfaces create a sense of time, memory, and accumulated experience—almost as if the painting itself carries traces of history.

            In Pratima Abhange's work, subject matter, composition, and creative process are equally important. Her paintings often develop through multiple stages and layers. The main subject is built up through varied textures and layered colour, while the background is frequently kept solid and restrained. This formal strategy allows her to achieve a puppet-like cut-out effect, where figures appear elevated from the ground, commanding visual dominance. This method enhances clarity, strengthens symbolism, and brings an iconic stillness to her compositions.

            An especially notable dimension of her practice is imagination. Mythological and religious subjects carry emotional and devotional sensitivity, leaving limited scope for radical distortion. Yet Pratima carefully negotiates this limitation. Without breaking the sacred bond that viewers hold with divine imagery, she introduces imaginative expansions and interpretative freedom. This is clearly visible in her work Manthan, inspired by the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan). In her composition she portrays eight deities, even though the mythological narrative does not specify the identities of the gods involved. Here, her imagination becomes a creative tool to widen the symbolic meaning of the story. The work transcends a literal retelling and enters the realm of philosophical reflection. It evokes the eternal struggle between forces of good and evil, truth and deception, chaos and order—struggles that remain relevant in every era, including the present.

            Alongside her narrative and mythological works, Pratima Abhange also creates landscape paintings that reflect a different emotional tone. These landscapes are often abstract and impressionistic, rather than realistic depictions. In them, lived experience becomes more central than mythic imagination. The bridges, rivers, boats, vehicles, and urban-rural transitions encountered during travel appear as fragments of memory. Morning light, dusk, fog, and twilight become emotional environments rather than literal scenes. Her landscapes therefore function not only as representations of nature, but also as representations of feeling.

            A spiritual dimension emerges in many of these landscapes as well. For instance, in her depiction of Mount Kailash, she introduces an orange band at the base of the canvas—an artistic gesture that transforms the landscape into a sacred realm. The colour orange evokes renunciation, devotion, fire, ritual energy, and divine presence. Through such elements, she suggests that nature itself is sacred. In her abstract landscapes, the density of colour and the intensity of texture evoke a mystical atmosphere. Even without explicit narrative, these works remain deeply connected to the internal world of human emotion, contemplation, and spiritual longing.

            Ultimately, Pratima Abhange's art reveals how memory can become an aesthetic force and how the sacred can remain visually alive in the modern world. Her paintings act as bridges—between myth and modernity, between faith and aesthetics, between inherited tradition and personal imagination. Through texture, colour, gold luminosity, and layered construction, she gives form to a uniquely contemporary devotion—one that honours the past while speaking directly to the present.

The Painted Sound: A new beginning by Vijayraj Bodhanka / Analysis By Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Artist Vijayraj Bodhankar 

    The life we have already lived is forever a part of the past, while the life yet to be lived holds far greater significance. What awaits us is always new—something unfolding for the first time—yet it is deeply intertwined with memories, experiences, and tradition. Despite this paradox, humanity constantly strives to understand the world anew, to re-experience existence as if freed from the weight of history. This attempt to see and live life afresh is not merely psychological; it is also artistic. We find a clear manifestation of this in the art of Vijayraj Bodhankar. History and traditions, along with the perception of sound, which is essentially the perception of memory, have been central to his art. 

    Vijayraj Bodhankar's artistic journey began with the human figure as his primary subject, his work rooted in narrative, physicality, and cultural memory. However, over time, his work gradually underwent a decisive shift towards abstraction, moving towards an abstract representation of sound. This evolution marks a significant turning point in his artistic vision. Sound—abstract, ephemeral, and formless—becomes both subject and medium, propelling his work beyond the visual world into the realm of sensation and perception. 

    His recent paintings do not depict sound in a literal sense; rather, they attempt to give it an abstract form, where sound, freed from the limitations of its linguistic representation, becomes a new experience at the level of feeling. In his working process, Vijayraj often begins with dense, layered abstract structures of colour. These initial layers are rich, textured, and emotionally charged. The presence of vibrant colours in them seems to express the immediate existence of life. As the work progresses, he gradually introduces thinner layers of lighter colours, especially applying translucent layers of white in the final stages. This lightening of colours in the painting is not merely aesthetic; This is conceptual. It's something like the human body being freed from its physical weight, entering a weightless state of the soul. In this way, a delicate dialogue is established between the visible and the invisible, between what is revealed and what remains hidden. The deeper layers beneath the surface persist as traces, hinting at memory, time, and accumulated experience. What emerges is a visual field that is both real and ephemeral, much like sound itself. This interplay can be understood as a form of memory-awareness. 

    Vijayraj Bodhankar explores the formless existence of sound—the word before meaning, the vibration before articulation—while remaining deeply rooted in tradition. Each painting becomes a quest: for the self, for one's place in the cosmos, and for a silent existence in an increasingly noisy and sound-saturated world. In this era of constant auditory stimuli from media, technology, and urban life, his work fosters a quieter, more contemplative engagement with sound, viewed as an internal experience rather than an external disturbance. The tradition from which Vijayraj Bodhankar hails plays a crucial role in shaping this exploration. He comes from a lineage involved in the creation of illustrated manuscripts, a practice inherited from his ancestors. These manuscripts were not merely decorative objects; they were vehicles of knowledge, memory, and cultural continuity. In his early works, he drew directly from this heritage, incorporating human figures, manuscript-style illustrations, and script into his compositions. In this phase, the script functioned both as a visual element and a carrier of meaning. Initially, the writing in his paintings was clearly legible, allowing viewers to recognize the letters and words. 

    However, over time, this writing began to dissolve, gradually moving from form to formlessness. This transformation reflects a profound philosophical shift. Writing, in its essence, is a pictorial representation of sound—visual symbols that give structure to spoken language. By liberating writing from its form, Vijayraj frees sound from linguistic constraints, allowing it to exist as pure emotion. In his earlier works, the recognizable letters were a means of reconstructing a lost or blurred identity within a contemporary visual language. In his recent works, the lack of legibility gives way to a more universal, experiential encounter. Vijayraj Bodhankar has often expressed concern about the growing alienation from tradition and memory in contemporary life. In this age of digital communication and social media, the written word is rapidly becoming marginalized. Today, people connect more with images and sounds than with text. Even within visual culture, listening often takes precedence over seeing. 

    However, the act of listening is often passive. Whether the listener plays an active role or maintains a depth of engagement remains a question. In contrast, reading demands an active role from the mind. It requires interpretation, imagination, and concentration. It is this active mental participation that Vijayraj seeks to revive through his paintings. The written form of language—the script—represents one of humanity's earliest attempts to visualize sound, but when sound is liberated from writing and transformed into painting, it acquires an abstract, non-representational existence. Sound does not require meaning to exist; it can be experienced purely as vibration, rhythm, or emotion. Vijayraj's work evokes this presence. His paintings do not attempt to convey a fixed message; instead, they emerge with infinite formal and emotional possibilities. 

    He often describes her work as "painting sound," emphasizing that sound—not image or narrative—is the conceptual core of her work. Throughout history, artists have attempted to represent sound in various ways, from scientific graphs depicting frequencies and vibrations to symbolic representations of music and rhythm. Among these artists, Wassily Kandinsky holds a significant place. Kandinsky translated musical melodies into abstract compositions, equating colour and form with sound. For him, painting music was a spiritual act, a movement from physical existence toward transcendence. Sound, understood as vibration, became a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Vijayraj Bodhankar doesn't consider any comparisons between artists appropriate. 

    He says that each artist has their own experience, based on which they create. Therefore, when discussing the depiction of music in Kandinsky's art, he doesn't claim to replicate Kandinsky's achievements, but rather shares his aspiration to hear sound through colour and abstraction. He says that Kandinsky was a great artist who gave a new direction to art in his time. He says that he sees a depiction of sound in Kandinsky's works, as well as in Paul Klee's, but that this is his personal experience. However, his approach is deeply rooted in memories—both personal and collective. Humans carry countless memories, both visual and audio, yet many remain dormant or unnoticed. By awakening these memories, he aims to expand the viewer's present moment. Without memories, life loses depth and continuity. Thus, his paintings become spaces where memories can resurface, resonate, and transform. 

Voltaire

    The French philosopher and writer Voltaire once said that artists use colour, texture, and composition to evoke emotional states—light colours for dreams, dark colours for clarity or intensity. This principle is clearly visible in Vijayraj Bodhankar's work. His restrained use of colour, particularly the layers of lighter colours over a darker base, prevents the paintings from becoming overly expressive or overwhelming. Furthermore, the layers hidden beneath the surface suggest emotional residue—thoughts and feelings that may fade with time but never completely disappear. They persist, waiting to resurface when circumstances permit. In his early works, Vijayraj often relied on structure, narrative, and symbolic form to express spiritual and philosophical ideas. While these elements provided clarity, they also risked limiting interpretation. In his recent paintings, he has deliberately distanced himself from such constraints. To this end, he employs more abstraction at the structural level. Furthermore, texture is more prominently expressed in his latest works. Thick layers of paint, often in the final layer, give the impression of a chaotic script. By avoiding recognizable forms or clear symbols, he gives the viewer greater freedom to engage with the work. 

    The paintings function as visual soundscapes—open, fluid environments through which the viewer can travel, guided by their experiences and emotions, between their past and present. The question of whether musical notes can truly be expressed through color is not new, yet it remains unresolved. However, it is certain that rhythm exists in painting, just as it does in music. This rhythm emerges from the arrangement of colour, form, and composition. In Kandinsky's work, rhythm was often manifested through geometric shapes and dynamic structures. In contrast, Vijayraj Bodhankar avoids geometric rigidity. His abstract paintings resemble emotional or atmospheric landscapes rather than structural density. Through this approach, form in Vijayraj Bodhankar's art transforms into visual sound. Sound is no longer something to be read or interpreted; it becomes something to be felt. His paintings invite contemplation rather than interpretation, sensation rather than narrative. By freeing form from definition, he allows sound to exist as a pure experience—limitless, resonant, and deeply personal. In doing so, Vijayraj Bodhankar not only gives his art a new direction but also offers a new way to connect with memories, traditions, and the overlooked aspects of modern life.

Illusions of Life: Recent Works by Archana Jha/ by Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Illusions of Life is an exhibition by Archana Jha that illuminates the complex, layered relationships that shape human existence. Through her recent works, the artist explores the emotional, psychological, and social connections between individuals, as well as humanity's changing relationship with nature, other living beings, and the inanimate world. At the heart of the exhibition is a fundamental question: how do we define life, and how much of that definition is shaped by perception rather than reality?

Archana Jha's works address the space between what is seen and what is felt. Using a subtle and contemplative visual language, she blurs the boundaries between animate and inanimate forms, presence and absence, and reality and illusion. Figures often appear suspended in apparent states, while objects and environments seem to be filled with a tranquil atmosphere. She renders surreal figures in a folk art style that is not entirely realistic. In this way, the forms in her paintings, both human and otherwise, encourage viewers to engage more deeply, leading to personal interpretations. The artist suggests that life is not limited to movement or biological existence, but is also shaped by memory, emotion, and human projection.

An important foundation of Archana Jha's practice lies in Indian folk traditions. She draws inspiration from Madhubani, Gond, and other indigenous art forms and has historically used visual storytelling to express cosmology, daily life, and spiritual beliefs. Rather than replicating these traditions, she reinterprets their visual vocabulary from a contemporary perspective. Traditional motifs, rhythmic patterns, and symbolic narratives are reimagined to address today's concerns, including changing social structures, environmental awareness, and the emotional complexities of modern life.

Her use of pattern and repetition reflects the rhythmic qualities of folk art, while her compositions remain open and fluid. This balance gives her works a feel both authentic and exploratory. The familiar language of folk aesthetics provides a point of entry, while the artist's modern approach invites new readings. In this way, Archana Jha creates a visual dialogue between past and present, tradition and innovation, memory and lived experience.

Throughout the exhibition, the artist also considers the human tendency to attribute meaning and emotion to both living and inanimate forms. Objects, landscapes, and architectural elements appear as silent witnesses, absorbing human presence and memory over time. These elements are not passive; instead, they create traces of interaction, suggesting an unseen exchange between humans and their surroundings. Archana's work reminds us that the boundaries we draw between living and nonliving things are often fragile and subjective.

This exhibition also addresses the idea of interdependence in human life. Archana suggests that human existence is deeply connected to the natural and physical world. Therefore, her works subtly point to ecological awareness, emphasizing coexistence rather than dominance. By placing humans, animals, and objects in the same visual space, the artist uncovers a network of relationships where no single element exists in isolation.

The 'Illusion of Life' exhibition is not just a photo exhibition, but a unique attempt to observe and recreate life. Archana's works compel viewers to consider that reality is created through observation, belief, and emotional response. Even what appears static can hold meaning. Even what appears lifeless can hold memories. Through this quiet yet powerful exploration, Archana Jha invites us to reconsider our assumptions about life and recognize the fragile illusions that shape how we see, feel, and exist in the world.

Life in Indian Art : an analytical view by Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

 

Painting by Amrita Sher-Gil. Bride Toilet. Source: public domain

Indian art has always been connected with life. Whether we look at folk traditions, tribal paintings, miniature schools, or modern and contemporary works, one important element remains constant: the celebration of everyday life. The forms, themes, and styles may change from one century to another, but life continues to be the central inspiration behind Indian creativity.

Woodcut by Chittoprasad

From ancient times onward, art in India has never belonged only to kings, temples, or wealthy classes. It has flourished in villages, on mud walls, in courtrooms, on palm leaves, in caves, and on canvas. It grows wherever there is life, emotion, memory, and imagination. Thus, Indian art becomes not only a visual expression but also an archive of how people lived, how they worked, how they worshipped, how they celebrated, and how they felt.

life in mithila painting

Folk and Tribal Art: Art Rooted in Life

The clearest example of life-based art is found in folk and tribal art. In these traditions, art is not a separate profession or a luxury; it is a part of living. A festival, a wedding, a harvest season, or a ritual automatically produces art. The walls of houses become the canvas, and nature provides the tools—soil, leaves, stones, plant colors.

Paintings from Madhubani, Warli, Gond, Pattachitra, Bhil art, Sohrai, and Kalamkari show a world full of farming, marriage rituals, forests, gods, animals, motherhood, and music. There is no artificial separation between life and art. Nature, society, faith, and everyday work become inseparable parts of this expression.

Warli painting

These works rarely show kings or dramatic heroism. Instead, they present simple, yet profound, slices of existence—women preparing food, farmers sowing seeds, hunters in the forest, children playing, birds, cattle, seasonal festivities, and community gatherings. The beauty of folk art lies in its simplicity, vitality, and closeness to nature.

Miniature Painting: Life Replaced by Royalty

When we turn to miniature painting, life seems to take a different form. Miniature schools such as Mughal, Rajasthani, Deccani, and Pahari Kalam were largely funded by kings and emperors. As a result, artists painted what the courts demanded: royal portraits, hunting expeditions, palace love stories, religious scenes, and mythological narratives.

Common life disappeared from these surfaces. Instead of farmers or ordinary women, we see richly dressed rulers, queens, musicians, elephants, court dancers, and divine figures. Even when nature appears, it is more decorative than lived. The trees, rivers, birds, and mountains serve beauty rather than experience.

Despite their technical brilliance and delicate brushwork, miniature paintings often remain distant from everyday realities. They show an idealized or luxurious life that belonged only to a few.

Painting by Ram Kinkar Baij

Modern Art Brings Back Ordinary Life

Amrita Sher-Gil was one of the earliest and most influential modernist painters in India to portray the everyday lives of ordinary people, especially women. At a time when much of Indian art focused on mythology or elite subjects, Sher-Gil shifted attention toward the lived experiences of the common man. Her works—such as Three Girls, Bride’s Toilet, and Village Scene—capture the emotional depth, struggles, and quiet dignity of rural life. Through this focus, she helped bring the realities of ordinary individuals into the mainstream of modern Indian art, earning her recognition as a pioneer who humanized and modernized artistic representation in India.

Paintign by Haku Shah

With the rise of modern art, life once again becomes the focus of Indian creativity. The colonial period introduced western education in art schools like the JJ School of Art in Mumbai, where artists learned perspective, anatomy, oil techniques, and realism. Although the style was influenced by European methods, the subject matter began to shift toward Indian life.

Painting by Nandlal Bose

Urban cities, markets, colonial streets, industrial workers, students, middle-class families, and office employees started appearing on canvas. Meanwhile, the Bengal School took inspiration from Indian heritage, rural culture, and the simplicity of folk life. Artists like Nandalal Bose, Binod Bihari Mukherjee, Yamini Roy and Abanindranath Tagore rejected both western romanticism and courtly extravagance. They painted humans engaged in everyday tasks—women drawing water from wells, farmers working, children learning, village fairs, and devotional practices.

For the first time, ordinary women were not treated as decorative figures. They were shown working in the fields, raising children, walking to rivers, selling goods, and performing rituals with dignity and strength. The most powerful contribution came from Ramkinkar Baij, whose sculptures and paintings brought tribal life and rural labourers to the forefront. His large sculptures of Santhal people, especially the Santhal Family, are milestones in Indian art. They show peasants walking with their children and belongings, symbolizing strength, survival, and migration. Through such works, art stepped into the real world of struggle, identity, and social truth.

Painting by Satish Gujral

Art after Independence: New Ideas, New Realities

After independence, India entered a new journey full of hope, pain, and questions. The horrors of Partition, the dream of democracy, growth of capitalism, rise of socialism and communism, and rapid modernization affected artists deeply. Art was no longer only about depicting life; it was also about questioning life.

Painting by Arpana Caur

In the 1960s and 1970s, artists began to paint not only what they saw, but also what they felt, thought, feared, and protested against. The canvas became a space for emotional and psychological exploration. Themes such as poverty, gender inequality, social injustice, political violence, loneliness, and identity crises came into focus.

Painting by Arpita Singh

Artists like Somnath Hore, Chittaprosad, M.F. Husein, Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Akbar Padamsee, Bhupen Khakhar, NS Bendre, Arpita Singh, Anjali Ela Menon, B. Prabha, Ganesh Pyne, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Bikas Bhattacaryjee, Jogen Chowdhury, Manu Parekh, Madhavi Parekh, Dhiraj Chowdhury, prakash Krmakar, Paritosh Sen, Satish Gujral, Jai Zarotia, Amit Ambalal, Hakku Shah, Gulam Mohammd Shekh, Neelima Shekh, Rekha Rodvittia, N. Pushpmala, Lalitha Lazami, Naina Kanodia, Latika Katta, and many more pushed Indian art toward new directions. They expressed not just appearances, but underlying truths. The influence of global movements, political journalism, student activism, and industrialization made art more critical and reflective.

Paintign by Gulam Mohammad Shekh

Art did not change society directly, but it transformed how intellectuals and thinkers looked at society. It offered a mirror that did not beautify reality but revealed its cracks.

Painting by Jogen Chowdhury

Life and Conceptual Art in the 21st Century

In the 21st century, Indian art entered a new phase dominated by conceptual ideas, surreal forms, unusual materials, and experimental installations. The artist’s focus shifted from how a painting looks to what it means. Sometimes the concept dominates so strongly that the visual form becomes secondary or confusing for viewers.

painting by Jagannath Panda

This created a distance between the art and the audience. Art now required explanation, writing, curatorial notes, and sometimes technical understanding. Many viewers began to feel excluded. Yet, alongside conceptual art, many artists continued to engage deeply with life by showing pain, memory, gender struggles, environmental issues, migration, and urban isolation.

Painting by Vijender Sharma

Artists like Arpita Singh, Sudhir Patwardhan, Laxma Goud, Satish Gujral, Jogen Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, Neelima Shekh, Lalitha Lazami, B. Prabha, Dheeraj Choudhury, Atul Dodiya, Neeraj Goswami, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Vijender Shrma, Jagannath Panda, Rekha Rodwittia, G.R. Iranna, Arpana Caur, Gogi Saroj Pal, Ved Nayer, Shipra Bhattacharya, Maruti Shilke, K.S. Radhakrishnan, GR Iranna, Jagannath Panda, Veer Munshi, Arun Panidt,  and many others continue to keep life at the centre of their art. On the other hand, abstract and experimental artists such as Prabhakar Barwe, Prabhakar Kolte, Jeram Patel, Shobha Broota, Amitava Das, Mona Rai, Santosh Verma, Manish Pushkale, Amrut Patel, Anil Gaikwad, Nupur Kundu, Harpreet Singh, Pandurang Tathe, Vijayraj Bodhankar, And many more explore life through colour, texture, and form rather than direct representation.

Painting by Veer Munshi

The Challenge of Medium-Based Art Today

A new trend today focuses heavily on unconventional materials—metal scraps, plastics, digital projections, industrial waste, sound, light, fabric, and recycled products. While experimentation is necessary, problems arise when medium becomes more important than meaning. When art stops reflecting life, it risks losing its human connection. Many viewers find themselves unable to relate or understand what they are looking at.

Art must evolve, but it must not forget the society from which it grows. If art forgets life, it becomes hollow; if art remembers life, it remains meaningful.

The journey of Indian art shows one unbroken truth: art survives only when it is connected to life. Whether it is the tribal painter using natural colours, the miniature artist painting court life, the modern painter exploring labourers, or the contemporary artist expressing identity struggles—each reflects a lived reality.

Indian art is not merely visual decoration; it is a living dialogue with people, nature, dreams, pain, and hope. As long as art continues to breathe the air of life, it will evolve, challenge, inspire, and remain rooted in the soil of human experience. Art that comes from life goes back to life, and this intimate relationship is what makes Indian art unique, diverse, and eternally alive.

Note: All Images from public domain and used only for refrence.