Publisher's Note

Putting together the first issue on Protest Art had been a challenge, mainly because of the lack of institutionalized authoritative studies on the genre. However, your encouragement, dear reader, and responses after the first issue on Protest Art has......read more

Editorial

As promised, the second issue of Art Etc. news & views will deal with Groups and Movements as part of the three issues on Protest Art. Right from the time of the French Revolution or, years later after the atrocities of the World War II, Protest as a phenomenon has largely been a Movement—a part of which has ......read more

Creative Impulse

Broot Force

In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz exclaimed, 'the horror, the horror' with all the strength of his last remaining breath, his deathbed epitaph to the mess of humankind. The darkness, the vileness, pickling and complicating with age, also cast their inevitable shadows on the works of Rameshwar Broota. An interpreter of society, his evolving language used irony and satire, described as sharp and savage, as a vent for his anti-establishment views. Increasingly, he has attempted to unshackle himself from the directness and localization of commentary, settling into a more classical lexis.....read more

Revisited
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Revisiting Art Against Terrorism

Having to write about a group of shows held nearly three years ago as a contribution to an issue dealing with Protest Art throws up many challenges and an invitation to play the devil's advocate. I will not attempt to write a review; I am not qualified for that task. This could be a postmortem that will attempt to investigate some core issues seen in relation to Protest Art. However, I must hasten to add that pertinent questions were debated then and much had remained unanswered. I share some of these with you now. Validate them or trash them, but the fact rem....read more
 

 Feature

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In the Summer of 1947

When Govind Nihalani approached Mandi House for clearance of tele- serial Tamas, the bureaucrats were stunned. It is the story of people trapped in Partition by Bhisham Sahni and that is a sensitive subject. But during its telecast the whole nation watched the serial for consecutive weeks with a stunned silence. The estimated number of viewer......read more

Ceative Impulse
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When Protest Erupts into Imagery

14 March, 2007. This date may well come to be regarded by researchers as some sort of a turning point in the recent history of Bengal, and, tangentially, of India. That was the day Nandigram erupted into a cause. Nobody at that stage had gauged its significance. If the ruling coalition congratulated itself on its small gain.....read more

Review
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Ramkinkar Baij: An Indian Modernist from Bengal Revisited

New Delhi. Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) was perhaps an artist who understood 'modernity' and its connections to art practice, undoubtedly more intuitively than in an informed or acquired manner, at least in his initial years, as a young artist in Santiniketan, Bengal. In actuality, contrary to more what is popularly understood, Ramkinkar was not a tribal. He was born in the Bankura district of Bengal and came from a lower middle class family....read more

Collectible
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Emile Galle and Art Nouveau Glass


Emile Gallé was born in the province of Lorraine in Eastern France in 1846. Lorraine has always been France’s gateway to Eastern Europe and Germany, and as a direct result, is a melting pot of cultures and traditions. In the eighteenth century, the city of Nancy had emerged as a pioneer in the field of glassmaking, pottery and various other arts, under the patronage of the Duke, Stanislas. Figures such as Gallé and the Daum brothers...read more

Collector's Corner
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Lekha Poddar: The Lady of the Arts

While waiting for Lekha Poddar at her Sunder Nagar HQ, I thought I was waiting for a museum director. The sitting room, beyond being decorated with good unconventional taste, is filled with art works charged with historical value: Chola stone statues, delicate antique Indian fabrics, paintings and a wall covered with books. All of this placed under the protection of a 10 feet tall wooden Buddha, perhaps from Burma. The atmosphere is amazingly quiet, almost soothing in the context of the hectic city of Delhi. Lekha comes, elegant and warmly welcoming. With no delay, we start our conversation about art, exhibitions and museums.....read more 

Market Monitor
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Sense and Sensibility

As we embark upon the new financial year, statistics show and pundits predict alike: that the art market in 2012 will be robust but immensely competitive and that there may be a need to nurture new markets that are yet to be explored. The popular notion, that China is the biggest growing art market stands, but at the same time there is no reason to expect that the European and American market have taken a beating. In fact, according to hard statistics that are published after corroborating sales figures at auction houses throughout 2011, the Artprice Artmarket Trends 2011 show that during last year, the revenue collected has “....read more