Indian Art Legends M.F.Husain & S.H.Raza Exhibit Recent Work in London Joint Show for the First Time with Tanya Baxter Contemporary -10th December 2009- 31st January 2010 Submitted by: Cassleton Elliott Friday, 30 October 2009 Tanya Baxter Contemporary presents: ‘The Mother Teresa Series’ by M.F.Husain & 'The Five Rays of Raza’ by S.H.Raza - 10th December 2009 – 31st January 2010 These joint exhibitions have been curated by Tanya Baxter Contemporary and sponsored by Barclays Wealth and Team Relocations. The curatorial team includes Michel Imbert, a premier authority on S.H Raza and Raisa Husain, her father’s agent. Terence Rodrigues an art historian and author is collaborating on the publications for the show. Christie’s will also be sponsoring lectures on both artists and hosting an event during the exhibitions’ duration. Tanya Baxter Contemporary and Kings Road Gallery are very proud and honoured to present these two exhibitions from the two living legends of Contemporary Indian Art and founding members of the Progressive Art Movement M.F.Husain and S.H.Raza. These exhibitions are exclusive to Tanya Baxter Contemporary in the UK, have not been seen in the UK together, and will be showcased at Barclays Wealth Private Bank in Mayfair, on 10th and 11th December and then go onto a central London gallery with Tanya Baxter Contemporary and Kings Road Gallery until 31st January 2010. Michael Demirel, Managing Director, Barclays Wealth International Private Bank commented “It is a great pleasure for us to host such a notable exhibition of two highly respected figures within the contemporary Indian art world. I am certain this will be of great interest to both art lovers and collectors alike and we look forward to the opening of the exhibition at our private bank in London.” M.F.Husain will be showcasing his Mother Teresa Series, comprising of 18 hand-finished prints, inspired by the legendary life and legacy of this extraordinary woman, framed in gothic arches transforming these iconic works into stained glass windows. This series of semi-abstracted works measuring at least six foot in height has not been exhibited in the UK before, and is available in a limited edition of 100. The collection is apolitical highlighting the fact that ‘Art Transcends All’. The Five Rays of Raza (the four elements plus light represented in his work) is the fruit of Raza’s past two years of work. This show can be seen as the culmination of 70 years of artistic endeavour. Critical opinion will no doubt see this as Raza’s greatest work, the finest distillation of his ideas, thoughts and feelings. In this collection Raza is inspired by his deep seated love for India, it’s culture and religious beliefs, with particular emphasis on the meditative and metaphysical philosophies of Hinduism – the five elements – (Panchabhuta in Hindi). Husain is one of India’s most respected artists. He started his career in 1937, painting hoardings for the popular Bombay cinema. As a founding member of the avant-garde Progressive Artist Group in 1947, Husain was anxious to forge a new vocabulary in Indian art and he created a new style in painting, which was a brilliant synthesis of tradition and modernity. He continues to produce colourful and provocative Page 1 canvases, incorporating themes from Indian religion, history and culture. In early 2008, Husain’s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, a large diptych, from the Hindu epic, fetched $1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale Raza’s early work was landscape, figurative and representational, but his more recent work is abstract and geometric, “landscapes of the mind” – akin to, but very different from, Vasarely, Klee and Rothko. Like the latter’s work, his work has an intensely contemplative, visionary and metaphysical aspect to it. If Europe gave him technique and rationalism, India gave him wisdom and mysticism. As he is an artist who has studied the great writers, thinkers and mystics of all faiths, filaments of Hindu, Islam and Zen are inextricably intertwined in his work. The clean lines and shapes glimmer, glow, flicker, shimmer, and incandesce in an almost cosmic, hallucinatory, transcendental way. His colourful works invite concentration and introspection, and resonate like modern tantric tankhas, inducing wonder, joy and peace in the viewer. This joint exhibition will offer collectors an opportunity to view and compare the key themes running through Contemporary Indian Art as explored by these two great exponents of this much talked about art school. Quite apart from the fact that the exhibition will be stand alone exhibition of some of the most important works of Contemporary Indian Art. Contemporary Indian Art has begun an extraordinary global boom in the past decade that mirrors the stability of India, with prices rising to a staggering 485% in this period. Both Indian and international collectors have renewed confidence in this art movement, destined to be the next big thing, as witnessed in this Summer’s auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s; as well as the enormous interest at both the Venice Biennale, and FIAC this year. Hugo Weihe, International Director, International Specialist Head of South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art, Christie’s commenting on recent sales, said: “It is all about quality now. The Indian market has matured, prices have stabilised and Indian artists are being recognised. The first half of this year set new price records for works of modern masters like F.N. Souza, S.H.Raza, M.F. Husain, all of whom crossed the $2.5 million mark.” But, the prices are still likely to increase dramatically in the next 18 months, with the forthcoming Contemporary Indian Art show at The Saatchi Gallery – ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and a Husain show at the Tate Modern, both scheduled for 2010. “Because of the strength of the market and the strength of the Indian economy, we’re seeing that many of the paintings exceeded estimates, some tripling or quadrupling our expectations,” comments Yamini Mehta, Director of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art at Christie’s in a Newsweek International interview. Yogesh Mehta, Group Managing Director of TEAM Relocations, is delighted that works of two of the founding members of The Progressive Artists’ Group are to be featured in this exhibition and stated that: “M F Husain and S H Raza are true masters who have contributed immeasurably to the Indian art scene and both continue to work today”. Page 2 -Ends- Photographs available Tanya Baxter Contemporary at: Kings Road Gallery 436 Kings Road London SW10 0LJ0207 351 1367 07961 360 407 [email protected] www.kingsroadartgallery.com Media Enquiries: Cassleton Elliott & Co. Ltd. Tel: 07808 403 963 [email protected] Notes to Editors: The Kings Road Gallery & Tanya Baxter Contemporary – The Kings Road Gallery has now been situated in the heart of Chelsea for eleven years. Founded in 1998 by Tanya Baxter, her original gallery was started in Hong Kong in 1995. Since then it has established a strong reputation for showing contemporary British, European and Asian artists. The gallery boasts an impressive stable of established artists who feature in museum, corporate and private collections and public landmark locations. We have a unique reputation for introducing established artists from Asia, particularly from China, Vietnam and Myanmar. The gallery also carries an exciting body of emerging artists, we are happy to advise clients on starting a collection. Kings Road Gallery participates in many International art fairs and hosts exhibitions in New York, Hong Kong, Dublin, Paris and London. Our corporate Art Consultancy department advises on collections for multinationals, hotels and key residential projects. Companies we have provided art consultancy services include Standard Chartered Bank, The Shangri-La Group and Morgan Stanley HK. Companies who have had structured sponsorship with us include Virgin Atlantic, ABN Amro, Remy Martin, First Pacific Group, Veuve Cliquot, Smirnoff, FPD Savills and the Sandom Group M.F.Husain Husain was noticed for the first time in 1947 when he won an award at the annual exhibition of the Bombay Art Society. Subsequently he was invited by Souza to join the Progressive Artist's Group. A great deal of experimentation in the early years led to some remarkable works Re Between The Spider And The Lamp, Zameen and Man. By 1955 he was one of the leading artists in India and had been awarded the Padma Shri. He was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. Along with several solo exhibitions he had major retrospectives in Mumbai in 1969, in Calcutta in 1973 and in Delhi in 1978. Page 3 He has participated in many international shows which include Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1982; Six Indian Painters, Tate Gallery, London 1985; Modem Indian Painting, Hirschhom Museum, Washington 1986 and Contemporary Indian Art, Grey Art Gallery, New York 1986. In 1967 he won the Golden Bear at the International Film Festival at Berlin for his documentary Through the Eyes of a Painter and has made several short films since then. Husain was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Padma Vibhushan in 1989 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. One of the most charismatic artists in India today, he is known for his emphatic understanding of the human situation and his speedy evocation of it in paint. The early evolution of his painterly language was overtaken by adventurous forays into installations and performance art. His experimentations with new forms of art are both unexpected and pioneering. Now 94 years old, Husain has studios in several cities in India but travels regularly across the globe.