The Discourse and Practice of Radicalism in Contemporary Indian Art 1960-1990
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THE DISCOURSE AND PRACTICE OF RADICALISM IN CONTEMPORARY INDIAN ART 1960-1990 by KATHLEEN LYNNE WYMA B.F.A., University of British Columbia, 1993 Diploma in Art History, University of British Columbia, 1997 M.A., University of British Columbia, 2000 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Art History) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA June 2007 © Kathleen Lynne Wyma, 2007 ABSTRACT By the early 1980s the Department of Fine Arts and Aesthetics at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda stood as the key institution for contemporary art in India. Its reputation had been carefully cultivated over the last fifteen years by both K. G. Subramanyan and Geeta Kapur. Under their careful artistic and theoretical tutelage, the Facuhy of Fine Arts turned to narrative-figuration as a self-proclaimed polemical stance against the materialist/determinist thrust of history. The narrative turn moved beyond the regional locality of Baroda in 1981 with the exhibition Place for People. Held in the cosmopolitan art centres of Delhi and Bombay the show included the work of six artists variously affiliated with the school in Baroda: Bhupen Khakhar, Vivan Sundaram, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Nalini Malani, Jogen Chowdhury, and Sudhir Patwardhan. The arrival of Place for People in the 1980s must be situated within the larger frames of contemporary art in the post-colonial moment. In attending to the variegated terrain spanning both theory and practice, my project has as its underlying concern the interface between discursive formations, institutional structures, and sites of artistic intervention. More specifically, I am interested the representational strategies that emerged in the period between 1960 and 1990. In looking to the gaps in the discourse, alongside the points of conflict or conciliation, I raise larger questions about the politics of representation, and the productive or prohibitive possibilities of artistic intervention. At the core of my argument is the rise of painterly narrative-figuration exemplified by Place for People and the challenge leveled against it by the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association. Both laid claim to radicalism as a polemical gesture; however, the battle was waged across the historically contingent fields of artistic subjectivity, regional difference and the capacity of art to function as an agent of social change. Pivotal to my study is how certain approaches to both the theory and practice of contemporary art in India have emerged as paradigmatic while others have gathered the dust of disregard. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iv List of Illustrations v Acknowledgments xvi Dedication xvii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: FINDING A NEW VISUAL ORDER 20 CHAPTER TWO: THE HISTORICAL POSE 62 CHAPTER THREE: COUNTER-PRAXIS: THE INDIAN RADICAL PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS ASSOCL\TION 109 EPILOGUE: INTERRUPTING INTERNATIONALISMS, NOTES FROM THE FIELD 158 BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Introduction Figure 1 : "Modem Mughal," Vancouver Sun, October 8, 2005, section Dl. Figure 2: "Timeless Art," Times of India, March 10, 1989, Bombay edition. Chapter One Figure 3 : K. G. Subramanyan, Woman with Lamp II (1951). Oil on canvas. 67x91.5 cm. Collection of the Artist. In K. G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective (New Delhi: National Gallery of Modem Art, 2003), 25. Figure 4: K. G. Subramanyan, Mother and Child (1953). Oil on board. 60 X 90 cm. Collection of the Artist. In K. G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective (New Delhi: National Gallery of Modem Art, 2003), 24. Figure 5: K. G Subramanyan, Two Women (1955). Colour linocut. 23.5 X 33 cm. Collection of the Artist. InK. G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective (New Delhi: National Gallery of Modem Art, 2003), 29. Figure 6: K. G. Subramanyan, Man with Fruit Cart (1956). Colour linocut. 23 X 33 cm. Collection of the Artist. In K. G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective (New Delhi. National Gallery of Modem Art, 2003), 29. N. S. Bendre,FesrtveMooûf(late 1950s). Oil on canvas. In Contemporary Art in Baroda, ed. Gulammohammed Sheikh (New Delhi; Tulika, 1997), 71. N. S. Rendre, The Thorn (1955). Oil on canvas. 177 X 122 cm. Collection of the National Gallery of Modem Art, Delhi. In Contemporary Art in Baroda, ed. Gulammohammed Sheikh (New Delhi; TuHka, 1997), 71. K. G Subramanyan, King of the Dark Chamber (1963). Terracotta. 274 X 2469 cm. Rabindralaya, Lucknow. In K. G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective (New Delhi; National Gallery of Modem Art, 2003), 218-219. Krishen Khanna, Window into Winter (1965). Oil. LalitKala Contemporary 3 (1967-68); np. J. Swaminathan, The Yellow Sign (1960). Oil on canvas. 60.9x91.4 cm. Collection unknown. In Changing Ideas: An Exhibition of 2(f^ Century Art (New Delhi; Delhi Art Gallery, 2001), 98. J. Swaminathan, The Colour of Geometry (1968). Oil. 58 X 91 cm. Private Collection. In Neville Tuli, Indian Contemporary Painting (New York; Harry N. Abrams, 1998), 227. Chapter Two Figure 13: Gulammohammed Sheikh, Speaking Street (1981). Oil on canvas. 122 X 114.5 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In Gulammohammed Sheikh, Returning Home Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 10 September - 11 November, 1985), 32. Figure 14: Jasper Johns, MAP / (1961). Oil on canvas. 198.1 X 312.7 cm. Collection of Museum of Modem Art, New York. Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns (New York : H.N. Abrams, in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994), fig.74. Figure 15: Willem de Kooning, Woman VI (1953). Oil on canvas. 174 X 179 cm. Collection of Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh Wahher, Ingo F., and Karl Ruhrberg, eds. Art of the Twentieth Century. (New York: Taschen, 1998), 276. Figure 16: Roy Lichtenstein, M-Maybe ( 1965). Oil and Magna on canvas. Museum Ludwig, Koln, Ludwig Donation 1976. Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Figure 17: Andy Warhol: Campbell's Soup Can (1964 ). Silkscreen on canvas. 90.8x61 cm. Collection of Leo Castelli Gallery, New York. Figure 18: M. F. Husain, Between the Spider and the Lamp (1956). Oil on board. 125 X 229 cm. Collection of the artist. In Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modem Indian Art: The Progressives (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001), 112. Figure 19: Bhupen Khakhar, Man Eating Jalebee (1974). Oil on canvas. 117x 177 cm. Collection of Mr. & Mrs. James Kirkman, London. In Timothy Hyman, Bhupen Khakhar (Bombay: Chemould Publications, 1998), fig. 11. Figure 20: Nalini Malani, Painting 16 (1973). Oil on canvas. Collection of National Gallery, New Delhi. In Gulammohammed Sheikh, "New Contemporaries," (Bombay: Marg Publications, 1978): 96. Figure 21 : Vi van Sundaram, Emergency (1976). Pencil and ink on paper. 75 X 56 cm. Collection of Saeed Mizra, Bombay. In Gulammohammed Sheikh, "New Contemporaries," (Bombay: Marg Publications, 1978): 91. Figure 22: Gulammohammed Sheikh, Speechless City (1975). Oil. 122 X 122 cm. Collection of Francis Waczraig, Delhi. In Neville Tuli, Indian Contemporary Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1997), 246. Figure 23; The Spy Zambur Brings Mahiya to Tawariq, Where They Meet Ustad Khatuna (ca. 1570). Page from the Hamzanama (Adventures of Amir Hamza) Ink, colors, and gold on cotton. 74 X 57.2 cm. Collection of the Rogers Fund, 1923 (23.264.1), http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/ssa/ho_23.264.1 .htm. Figure 24: Bhupen Khakhar, The Celebration of Guru Jayanti, ( 1980). Oil on canvas. 170x246 cm. Whereabouts unknown. In Timothy Hyman, Bhupen Khakhar (Bombay: Chemould Publications, 1998), fig. 18. Figure 25: Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good Government (1338-40). Fresco. Sienna, Palais Public. Figure 26: Gulammohammed Sheikh, Revolving Routes ( 1981). Oil on canvas. 183 X 183 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In Gulam Mohammed Sheikh: Returning Home (Paris: Centre George Pompidou, 10 December-11 November 1985), 33. Figure 27: Nalini Malani Concerning a Friend (1981). Oil on canvas. 112 X 112 cm. Collection unknown. In Place for People (Bombay: Jahangir Gallery, 1981), np. Figure 28: Abanindranath Tagore, Mara/Mato, 1905. Watercolour. Collection of Ravindra Bharati Society. (National Art Treasure) http ://www. kamat. com/picturehouse^harat/1 OOj. htm. Figure 29: "In the News." The Illustrated Weekly of India, July 27, 1976, 24. Figure 30: Jogen Chowdhury, Man III (\9U). Pastel on paper. 26.7 X 25 cm. Collection of Smt. Meera Devi Dayal, Bombay. In Place for People (Bombay: Jahangir Art Gallery, 1981), np. Figure 31 : Vivan Sundaram, Guddo ( 1980). Oil on canvas. 112 X 137 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In Contemporary Art in Baroda, ed. Gulammohammed Sheikh (New Delhi: Tulika, 1997), 212. Figure 32: Sudhir Patwardhan, The City (1979). Oil on canvas. 127 X 183 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In Sudhir Patwardhan (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 5 March - 11 May 1986), 11. Figure 3 3 : Sudhir Patwardhan, Street Play ( 1981 ). Oil on canvas. 92 X 183 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In Sudhir Patwardhan (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 5 March - 11 May 1986), 12. Chapter Three Figure 3 4 : Broadsheet from the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association, Calicut Exhibition (front page). February 20-23, 1989. Calicut Town Hall. Figure 3 5 : Broadsheet from the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association Calicut Exhibition (middle pages) February 20-23, 1989. Calicut Town Hall. Figure 3 6 : Broadsheet from the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association Calicut Exhibition (back page). February 20-23, 1989. Calicut Town Hall. Figure 37: K. P. Krishnakumar, Vasco de Gama (1985). Painted plaster, wood and cloth. Life-size. In Twentieth-Century Indian Sculpture: The Last Two Decades ed. Shivaji K. Panikkar (Bombay: Marg Publications, 2000), 20. Nalini Malani photograph. Whereabouts unknown (destroyed). K. P. Krishnakumar with The Philosopher (c.l989) Broadsheet from the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association Calicut Exhibition.