Women who defined modern Indian art

Art historians have been frugal regarding the contribution of women artists of India. Their work has mostly been invisible, their lives rarely discussed. Thus, the exhibition, ‘Of Spaces of their Own: Women Artists in 20th Century in India’, in Delhi, comes as an eye-opener. It showcases the talent of women artists who gave modern Indian art a distinct visual language. They had a subtle eye and a sensitive brush. Their sculpture, pottery and prints are of archival value in tracing the big ideas of post-Independence art. Each etched her own course, but today, their art converges to form critical contours of Indian modern art.

To mark its 20th anniversary, Gallery Akar Prakar (in Kolkata and Delhi) chose to put the spotlight on 14 important women artists from across India — Amrita Sher-Gil, Ambika Dhurandhar, B Prabha, Devyani Krishna, Gouri Bhanja, Ira Chaudhuri, Kamala Das Gupta, Kiran Barua, Leela Mukherjee, Meera Mukherjee, Nasreen Mohamedi, Reba Hore, Sunayani Devi and Zarina Hashmi. At this show (on till October 15), curators Aparna Roy Baliga and Debdutta Gupta present works that belong to the pre- and post-Independence periods. These works establish not only the skill of women artists, but their commitment to art movements associated with the Calcutta Group, the Progressive Artists’ Group in Mumbai and the Madras art movement.

The Swadeshi movement of the early 20th century opened spaces of visibility for women. They got the opportunity to be trained at art schools and were not confined to home tuitions. While the national movement presented new horizons, it also posed the fundamental challenge of addressing what the show curators call the ‘East-West dilemma’. One of the earliest artists to overcome this challenge was Amrita Sher-Gil. Born in 1913 in Budapest (Hungary), Amrita chose to return to India after a wonderful stint as a painter in Europe.

In India, she mostly painted rural landscapes and women figures. Her genius lay in interpreting a multifaceted India with the subtleties of western modernism. At the show, her untitled charcoal on paper demonstrates her primary skill in envisioning a new visual voice for the nation. Despite her early death (at 28 years of age), Amrita contributed enormously to Indian modernism.

Another pioneer, B Prabha (1933-2001), studied at the Nagpur School of Art and later at Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai. She created stunning portraits of rural women, who appeared both graceful and thoughtful. Her paintbrush captured ordinary Indians — fisherfolk, farmers and the urban poor engaged in their everyday struggle for survival.

Prabha was only a student when her works were bought by none other than the famous scientist Homi Bhabha. Her elongated female figures are accurate depictions of the challenges of womanhood in India.

An avid traveller and a keen student of art mediums, including graphite, Conte and charcoal, Devyani Krishna (1910-2000) did not shy away from exploring abstract art. Often, her works embraced religious symbols, femininity and metaphysics within a single frame, while attempting to portray universal themes of war, family and faith. Tibetan culture and Buddhist art greatly influenced her works as she defied traditional aesthetics in her pursuit of harmonising varied ideas.

By the time Kamala Das Gupta (1915-2000), an accomplished sculptor, grew into a full-fledged artist, the Indian art scene in the mid-20th century had reached a critical phase. The romanticism exhibited by early Bengal artists had faded and it was time to create a new visual vocabulary. The formation of the Calcutta Group in 1943, with Kamala as one of the founders, was an attempt to find the visual language that expressed India’s new aspirations and expectations. Her works today present the formative language of Indian modern art that was unshackled from the revivalists.

The show forces us to acknowledge the strong, though often silent, voices of women artists, who displayed amazing confidence in creating personal visual styles that challenged the prevailing trend of figurative and stylised art. One such artist was Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990). With pencil and ink, Nasreen created a new world of grids and lines, minimalist and formalist at the same time. She continues to be one of the most influential artists, whose works have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, and the Tate, Liverpool.