Art lecture on Indian art
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Art Lecture Series at Gardiner Gallery
Addressing the figure in post colonial Indian art
Dr. Marcella Sirhandi, a professor emeritus who taught Indian and Southeast Asian art, will attempt to reconcile pictorial style with thematic concerns by Indian artists from the early 1950s to the 21st Century during a presentation On Thursday, Oct. 3, from noon to 1 p.m. in room 104 of the Bartlett Center. Indian artists have always preferred figuration even when pressed to adopt abstraction in order to be modern like the West. M.F. Husain, India’s best known artist, borrowed Cubist style from Picasso, chopped off the hands and feet of his figures and impressed the Indian audience with his modernism. Subsequent painters evolved personal styles to address thorny subject matter and figuration took many forms. Mahvi Parekh came from the village and recorded her childhood memories in a primitivist style. Arpita Singh’s cluttered, nervous compositions record the clash of religion between Hindu and Muslim and Sikh in the crowded city of New Delhi. Click here for more information on the series.