Jyoti Bhatt Photo graphs 1959- 1994
Curated by Rakesh Sahni
I~ 2nd March - 30th March 2008 Ko lkata
The show will subsequently travel to Singapore in association with SUNJIN GALLERIES fine art for fine [ivi ng www.sunjingalleries.com.sg Exhibition Layout : Radhika Sahni
Catalogue Desi~n : Arup Sen Gupta Digital Artwork : Raghunath Sharma
Printer : Caps Micrographies Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata Published by Gallery Rasa (An unit of Rajyoti Creative Pursu its Pvt. Ltd.) 828/ I Block-P New Alipore Kolkata 700 053
© 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the prior permission of Gallery Rasa/Rajyoti Creative Pursuits Pvt. Ltd. Foreword K.G. Subramanyan
lt was more then fifty years ago that I came upon Ananda Coomaraswamy's 'Mediaeval Sinhalese Art' .Then I was So they drift, in desperation, into humdrum professions; weavers take to rolling beedis, potters to making bricks, hardly twenty and had not yet made art my main vocation. But it made a lasting impact on my thinking. Although patuas to peddling paints and perfumes in vi llage fairs, ganjifa painters to working as peons or clerks; and no some of its polemics, exaggerations and over statements may not have the same appeal to me now as it had wonder; the kind of education we impart makes people despise manual arts and skills. The situation can only then, its main thesis is still compelling.The art culture of a traditional society has many strands that reinforce each worsen in the context of the country's new economic objectives which will make these changes quicker and other. Each provides an avenue of creativity and refines human sensibilities and responses. Living within a network more drastic. And in the process the present art panorama is sure to be devastated. of these an individual attains a special stature and refinement which he never would alone; and not a rare individual or two but large number of them in different walks of life.The disappearance of this network with the breakdown What do we do in the face of this? Let the whole thing disappear before our eyes? And lose a large part of our of traditional culture is bound to lead to cultural impoverishment and disorientation. cultural heritage? In many of ~he so-called developed countries this has happened without their knowing, forcing them now to come to countries like ours as cultural tourists to get a feel of what it was. In that sense our heritage During the last fifty years as artist and student of the Indian art scene I have realized more and more the profundity is also a world heritage. At one time one fondly hoped that, in a mixed economy like ours, the artisan traditions of this. lt has given a certain shape to my concept oftradition and structure of the art language. Though I have and house-hold arts w ill have a chance to survive, however precariously. And this could educate the new generation never come to believe that traditions can be kept forcibly alive. We cannot stem social change, behind it there of artists and artisans. Even lead, perhaps, the powers that be to think in terms of a more human and value-based are various pressures that cannot be resisted by individual or group effort This can only happen if the whole plan of development But this seems unlikely; the government and the trading community are taking a great leap society gears itself up for it, thinking as one person. But this is too much to expect. Besides, no society exists today forward to hook up with the world economic forces. What concerns them most are export earnings not human in isolation; it is linked to the rest of the world in various ways. So any such resistance will also need a global refinement; this makes one recall, with a tinge of sadness, Wil liam Blake's well-known lines, 'When nations grow consensus. Although there may be some small groups that discuss the.. necessity of this one on the global scene old the Arts grow cold/And commerce sits on every tree' their impact is little. Ecologists have come to recognize the interdependence of various aspects of nature and the need of their balanced nurture for human survival; but the basic factors that have to be nourished for a In these circumstances the least we can do is to visual ly record the whole heritage, collect object specimens of persistence of culture in the modern world are still rarely thought about the best kind, document methods of fabrication and use and house these objects and data in museums and archives region to region, speciality to speciality. These can recreate for the interested a picture of various art But these should come readily into focus in a country like ours that has a large cultural panorama; which includes forms and educate them to value them. And provide, if an art form disappears, the wherewithal with which to a great variety of art practice both professional and non-professional .Very few countries have such a broad or recall it This may motivate some to cultivate them in the new circumstances and use them for new purposes. inter-related presence of these; though, through the years, this presence is dwindling even in ours. Especially that Even sow the seeds of tradition in a non-traditional world. And teach the future planners to be more sensitive of household and non-professional arts that are closely tied to a way of life or value system. When these ways and circumspect. and values change they cease to exist or lose in power. Professional arts too decline when the patron-practitioner balance is radically interfered with or when gross commercialism eliminates the pleasure of practice and drives Is this being done? And on an adequate scale? Do we have museums and archives of this kind in the various the practitioners into other professional fields. regions where the specialist and the non-specialist can get a dependable picture of our heritage? I am afraid not So the work of Jyoti Bhatt and some others like him is exemplary. lt pleases me to think that a number of them One can cite numerous instance of these; if I am informed right, there is no clay-worker in Bengal now who knows were my students and share my concerns. Painter and print-maker in his own right Jyoti spends a lot of his time the techniques of its lauded terra-cotta reliefs that embellished its village shrines only a few generations ago; the recording village arts with great understanding and aesthetic sensibility. For him it is a labour of love and he uses Kanbis of Gujarat have become too prosperous and urbanised to let their women embroider those fabulous his own resources. But the work is large and, seen against the rising tide of the new economic forces, the time 'Ganeshsthapans' as they did once; the Saoras of Orissa do not any more paint the same kind of wal l murals as is short This calls for greater effort and larger resources. I hope that this exhibition of photographs will serve as Verrier Elwin admired once; the present specimens are little more than loose graffiti. Insensitive commercialisation an eye-opener to others and motivate public and private agencies to raise the necessary resources without delay. has done visible harm to Warli and Madhubani painting even if it may have increased its practice. The number of professional artisans, too, are dwindling as they do not receive the appreciation or remuneration they deserve. Reprinted from Walls and Floors -The Living Traditions ofVillage India, 1994 About my Photographs Jyoti Bhatt
When compared to painting, sculpture and printmaking, photography is a recent form of visual art. lt is practiced One of the inclinations found among artists o r an important attribute of today- perhaps much more than any other form of art-- by a large number of people, and has diverse kinds of their works is not to hide t he media they used.Th is must be the reason use in various fields including journalism, science, medicine and defence. lt could be due to its popularity and why stone is so evident in Henry Moore's sculptures and surfaces of oil paints familiarity that people have so many different conceptions about photography. Like the six bl ind men and their are so obvious in Van Gogh's paintings. W hy a work of Andy W arhol is different perceptions about an elephant, people often have pre-conceived ideas about how a photographic image simultaneously a painting, serigraph and photograph? As a printmaker interested should look. Artists too have argued - in favour and against of this new art form. in photography I had a dream of printing my photographic images by Photogravure , the intagl io process used by master photographers li ke Alfred However in the past, many painters from Degas to Andy Warhol have made use of photography in their works. Stieglitz and his colleagues during the early decades of last century. Though I Apart from incorporating photographic images in their paintings, several artists, such as David Hackney, have also could not manage to do t hat, now I can at least 'edit' my photographs o n a used the camera as eloquently as they have used other standard tools for creating their vi sual expressions. computer and print them w ith pigment based inks o n papers made from I 00% cotton fi bers.This process has made it possible for me to achieve t he Some people involved with photography have at t imes end results quite simi lar to t he Photogravure prints. lt also allows me to used the term 'Pure Photography'. But it is very difficult alter the colo ur balance and tonality of the images to make them appear a to define this term in a way that can be acceptable bit more pleasing without changing their initial meanings and contexts. However while enjoying doing t hese I have to all. The only examples of pure photograph that I focused on making two kinds of images. Answers of the questio ns like what, when, where, and who may be found can think of are the snapshots made by children and in an image. In the other; though the images are photographic ones, such questio ns are irre levant and, I expect laypersons w ith 'point and shoot' type digital cameras. that instead of providing information to viewers they would invoke emotional respo nse. On the other hand, right from its beginning, photographers - professionals as we ll as amateurs- have rarely made photographs without manipulations. Manipulation made before clicking a camera by selecting the lens, changed perspective. Aperture and shutter speed were often set for controlling the sharpness. Filters were used for altering colours and tonality. Several methods involving chemicals, temperature and time were employed in the dark room during processing negative films and also while enlarging prints to get the desired contrast. Some times the negatives and final prints were also retouched, even hand coloured. Two or more negatives were used in combination and parts of photographs were also collaged to create a new image. Doing this was a kind of a guessing game. lt required much experience and skill because the results achieved by most of such stages were not visible at the t ime they were employed. However; now there are several new and more efficient tools available; a digital camera, computer and software Image I : Blue Goggles, 1982 such as the Photoshop.They allow, encourage or even tempt a photographer to uti lize these tools to assign the Image 2 : Rathawa Children, Gujarat, 1981 desired look and form to his photographic images.The plus point of this method is that each stage can be All photographs are printed on Somerset Enhanced paper (I 00% Cotton - 225 G/M2), controlled separately in bright light, and its result can be seen, altered and mixed. size - 33cm x 48.3cm with pigment based archival ink. Meena Woman, Rajasthan, 1989
Self Portrait (Ardha Narishwar), Venice, 1966
Untitled, 1959
Fishing Fair, Gujarat, 1977
Mh er Girl, Saurashtra, 1969
Roadside Rangoli, Andhra Pradesh, 1983 Tribal House, South Gujarat, 1987 Alpanam (Temple House), Nicobar, 1989 On the Road Alone, 1969
Jholi,Tamilnadu, 1993
Immortalized Death, Pompei, 1962 Chulha, Rajasthan, 1985 Untitled, Karnataka, 1987 Mutawa Girl, Kutch, 1975 Durga, Mithila, 1977 Ahir Boys, Kutch, 1969 Meena House, Rajasthan, 1980 Untitled, Madhya Pradesh, 1973 Blacklight, West Bengal, 1978
Untitled, Rajasthan, 1989
Untitled, Chota Udaipur; 1971 City Wall, Andhra Pradesh, 1982 Harijan Girls, Kutch, 1979 Meena Girl, Rajasthan, 1989
Open 24 Hou rs, Bolpu r, West Bengal, 1974
Roadside Platform, Rajasthan, 1989 Biographic Details:
Selected Solo Exhibitions: D ate & Pl ace of Birth: 1984: Photographs, A rt Herit age, New Delhi & Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 12th March, 1934, Bhavnagar; Gujarat 1991: Photographs, A rt Herit age, New Delhi & Cymroza A rt Gallery, Mumbai by Rakesh Sahni 1998: Printed Image - An O verview : Ret rospective Exhibit ion of Graphic Prints, 196 1-98, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai Art Ed ucation: 1950-59: Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.U, Baroda. 1999: Centre for Photography, National Centre for Policy Analysis and lndira Gandhi N ational 1953: Mural and Fresco painting, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan. Centre for the A rts, New Delhi. 196 1-62: Academia di Belle A rti, Naples, Italy 2002: ABS Gallery, Vadodara 1964-66: Pratt lstitute and Pratt Graphic Art Center; New York 2005: Graphic Prints - an O verview, Jyoti Bhatt, An ant Art Gallery, N ew Delhi 2007: Parallels That Meet - Paintings, Prints and Photographs, Delhi Art Gallery, N ew Delhi 22 Solo exhibit ions in India and 6 in U.S.A, Germany and Cuba Teaching Experience: 1959-61: Faculty of Fine A rts, Maharaja Sayaji rao University, Baroda 1966-93: Resumed teaching and took an ear ly retirement Selected Awards : 195 6: President's Gold Plaque Selected Seminars, Workshops & Projects on Photography: 1963: National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, N ew Delhi 1967: Starts Photographic Documentation of' Living Traditions of Folk and Tribal Visual Arts in India'. 1978: 'Prize for Ch ildren', Phot ography Contest , D.A.V. P, N ew Delhi. 1970: Photographic Mural for Excel-Industries Ltd., Mumbai. 1978: 'World Photo Contest' at Fot okina, Germany. 1970: Start s working on Screen-Prints with Photographic methods. 1989: Grand Prix for 13th A nnual Photo Contest Asia and Pacifi c, UN ESCO, Japan. 1978: Photographic documentation of the works of Nandalal Bose, Be node Behari Mukherjee and 2000: Gujarat State Award for Life Time Acheivement Ram Kinkar Baij, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. 2004: Honorary Doctorate, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata 1979: Curated a show of photographs titled 'S heshav' on the occasion of the International Year of 2005: Lifet ime Ach ievement Award - D istinguished Photo A rtist, Academy ofVisual Media, New Delh i the Child, Vadodara 1983-1987: Collected and documented objects of Folk and Tribal Arts for Roopankar Museum, Major Public Collect ions: Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal and for the 'Art of Adiwasi' Exhibition held in Japan. Museum of Modern A rt, N ew York 1995: Photography organized by the British Council and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi N ational Gallery of Modern A rt , N ew Delhi 1998- 1999: Coordinated Photography Workshops in Baroda, conducted by Prof. Thomas Luttge Lalit Kala A kademi, N ew Delhi arranged by Max Muller Bhavan, Mumbai. Smithsonian Museum, W ashington DC 2000: Workshop titled 'Literature and Other Fine Arts', Dept. of Youth and Culture, Govt. of Gujarat Dusseldorf Art Museum, Dusseldorf British Museum, London Selected Group Exhibitions: Uffizi Galler y, Florence 1969: Painters with Camera, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai Hyderabad Stat e Museum, Hyderabad 1972: She, Bombay Baroda Museum,Va dodara 1982: 'Seven Indian Photographers', MOMA, Oxford, UK Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan , Bhopal 1989: 'Through t he Indian Eyes', Photography Show, Amsterdam Chandigarh Museum, Chandigarh 1987: 'The Eternal Wheel', 15 Indian Photographers, Germany 1999: 'Photographs by Artists', New Delhi 1999-200 I : 'Women I Goddess', India and USA 2000: Joint ly with Raghav Kaneria, New York 2003: Passing Through Light, A lgeria 2006: Super Six Photographic All India Travelli ng Exhibition Bhatt, Jyoti. Adhunik chitrakala one aapne (Contemporary Art and Us). Parijaat, 1961 (?) p.82-89 Selected Bibliography Bhatt, Jyoti. Dastaveji chhabika/a (Documentary Photography) in Sayujya, Sadbhav Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1985 p.81-91 Books Bhatt, Jyoti. Babo-Pithoro: A Tribal Ritual Painting from Gujarat. Swagat, July 1988, p.l2-16 Bhatt, Jyoti. Bharatiya lok ka la (Indian Folk Art) In Jnan Gangotri Granthasreni, Vo1.30: Drishyakala, Sardar Pate I University, Bhatt, Jyoti. Walls and Floors:The Living Tradition ofVillage India, IGNCA and NCPA, Mumbai, 1997 Vallabh Vidya Nagar, Gujarat, 1996 p.l 14-131 Bhatt, Jyoti. Chhabika/a (Photography) In Jnan Gangotri Granthasreni, Vo1.30: Drishyakala, Sardar Pate I University,Vallabh Vidya Periodicals (on) Nagar, Gujarat, 1996 p.314-324 Bhatt, Jyoti. Mudranksh am kalakruti (Graphic Prints) In Jnan Gangotri Granthasreni,Vol.30: Drishyakala, Sardar Pate! University, Bordewekar, Sandhya. Machines in the Service of Artists. Art India, Voi.XI Issue I, Quarter I 2006, p.75-76, illus.(2) Vallabh Vidya Nagar, Gujarat, 1996 pJ00-313 Bordewekar, Sandhya. Negotiating the Traditional and the Modern. Art India, Vol. IX Issue 11, Aprii-May 2004, p.64-66, illus.(S) Bhatt, Jyoti. Rangoli: aangana no shangar (Rangoli: Adornments of Courtyards).Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Vadodara, Bordewekar, Sandhya. Traffic of Images, Art India, Voi.XII Issue I , Quarter I 2007, p.4 3-46 n.d. pp.48 illus.(43), phot.(4) Kamdar, Mwa. Mot1ba's Tattoos- An lnd1an-American Woman's Journey to Her Grandmother's House. Pers1mmon Volll No 1 Bhatt, Jyoti. Zest for Tribal Art in Invisible Order - Tribute to Haku Shah ( ed.Eberhard Fischer). Art Indus, New Delhi, Spring 200 I, p 26-37 phot.(8) ' . . p.124-125, phot.(2) Karia, Bhupendra. Jyoti Bhatt. Marg, Vol XIX No.4, September 1966, p.21 Dhamija, Jasleen( ed .). Crafts of Gujarat. Map in International Inc., New York, 1985, pp.l67, phot.( 12) Krishnan, Dinesh. Great Masters- Jyoti Bhatt. Better Photography, Vol. I I Issue 3, August 2007, p.l44-149 phot.(8) Karode, Roobina. Editor's Note In Jyoti Bhatt - Parallels That Meet, Delhi Art Gallery, 2007, p.l 0-19 Krishnan, SA Jyoti Bhatt -The Painter of Pseudo, Tantric Modern Indian Art. Design, Vol. 14 Issue 12, December 1970, p.35-37 Panikkar, Shivaji.K. & Bhatt, Jyoti. History of Printmaking in India In Indian Art - an overview ( ed.Gayatri Sinha). Rupa & Co., Mehta, Anupa. Fading Indian Traditional Arts on Record .The Fountainhead, Vol.12 No.2, Apr-May-June 1994, p.l8-19 phot.(2) New Delhi, 2003 p.l52-165 Sawant, Shukla. Parallels That Meet: Paintings, Prints and Photographs In Jyoti Bhatt- Parallels that Meet, Delhi Art Gallery, Miller-Lewis, Karin. A Modest Proposal. Art India, Voi.S Issue 3, Quarter 3, 2000, p.68-69 phot.( 6) 2007, p.S0-67 Nagy, Peter: The Dialogic Imagination. Art India, Voi.XI Issue I, Quarter I 2006, p.90-91 ill us.( 4) Shah, Shampa (ed).Tribal Arts and Crafts of Madhya Pradesh. Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad , 1996, pp.l42, phot.(27) Purohit, Vinayak. Jyoti Bhatt. Design, Vol.7 No.4, April 1963, p.29-30 lllus.(3) Sheikh, Gulammohammed (ed). Contemporary Art in Baroda.Tulika, New Delhi, 1997, pp. 294 Roberta,J.The Prints of Jyoti Bhatt. Design, March 1967, pJI-33 illus.(4) Singh Gupta, Amrita.Tradition and Innovation: The Past as Resource In Jyoti Bhatt - Parallels that Meet. Sarwal, Am ita. A Rural Art Handed Down. Inside Outside, Issue 26, Aug/Sept 1982, p.4 3-48 phot.(7) Delhi Art Gallery, 2007, p.24-48 Subramanyan, K.G. Interview of Jyoti Bhatt. Lalit Kala Contemporary,Vol 18 1974, p.25-28 illus.(2) Subramanyan, K.G. Foreword In Jyoti Bhatt - Parallels That Meet, Delhi Art Gallery, 2007, p.20-22 Unsigned. Contemporary Image Makers - Jyoti Bhatt. The India Magazine, Vol. I 0 No.l, December 1989, p.l46-147 phot.(3) Tobias, Michael. India 24 hours (photo ed. Raghu Rai). Map in Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1996, pp.l90, phot.( 12) Unsigned. Read the Fine Prints. Insight, Hong Kong, Jan 1971, p.78-79 illus.(4)
Periodicals (By) Exhibition Catalogues Bhatt, Jyoti. The Ram a Snehis and their Bhajan Me la. Swag at. August 1990, p.l8-24, phot.(9) Bhatt, Jyoti. Problems Pertaining to Printmaking In India In Mini Prints'%, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, p.93-l 03 Bhatt, Jyoti. Walls & Floors-The Living Tradition in Indian Villages. Design & Interiors, Vol. I No.l, Bhatt, Jyoti. About this Exhibition in Fourteen Photographers from Baroda. CPA, Mumbai, 1996(?) December 1994- January 1995, p.80-84, phot.(8) Bhatt, Jyoti (ed .). Shaishav (Childhood) . lnventa Corporation, Mumbai, 1979 Bhatt, Jyoti & Chaudhuri, Sankho. Nicobar- Living with the Dead. The India Magazine, Vol.l2, No.2, January 1992, p.76-83, phot.(8) Bhatt, Jyoti. Yatra: My Journey, Bayer ABS Gallery, Baroda, 2000 Bhatt, Jyoti. Mandana- Wall and Floor Decorations. The India Magazine ,Vol.l2, No.7, June 1992, p.70-79, phot.( IS) Bhatt, Jyoti. Introductory Essay In Exhibition of Photographs. Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay, 1986 Photographs by Raghav Kaneria Bhatt, Jyoti. Untitled Essay In Walls and Floors -The Living Traditions ofVillage India, Baroda, n.d. p.S-12 Bhatt, Jyoti. And the Rains Came. Swagat. July 1989, p.89-96, phot.( 16) Elliott, David. Introduction In India: Myth and Reality. Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1982 Bhatt, Jyoti. Sanja - A Traditional Art Form. The India Magazine, Vol. II No.l2, November 1991, p.20-31 phot.( 13) Panikkar, Shivaji.K. A Space between the Tradition and the Modern In Jyoti Bhatt, Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay, 1998 Bhatt, Jyoti. Graphic Materials and their Availability. Lalit Kala Contemporary No. I I, April 1970, p.39-42 Subramanyan, K.G. Untitled Essay In Walls and Floors -The Living Traditions ofVillage India, Baroda, 1994, p.l-2 Bhatt, Jyoti. Baro da kala/it kala sankay (Baroda's Fine Art College). Samakaleen Kala, Sankhya 14, May 1990, p.48-50 Bhatt, Jyoti. Gift of Solitude: Pratibhav (A review of the monograph of photographs by Ashwin Mehta).Traimasik, Vo1.56 Issue 3, July-September 1991, p.l93-195