India proposes Santiniketan's name to be included in World Heritage Sites

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) presented Santiniketan as its official entry for UNESCO's list on World Heritage Sites this year. The reason behind Santiniketan's nomination is that, the year 2011 marks the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and the place is exceptional for its virtue of landscape, cultural importance and rich educational standards. The place is ultramodern by the 20th century standards. The dossier on Santiniketan had been sent to UNESCO's world heritage centre in Paris and it has been confirmed from their part that the dossier is made as per operational guidelines. Mumbai based conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah and Kolkata based architect Manish Chakraborty have prepared the dossier. The various Indian monuments and sites that have been included in the World Heritage list are  Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, Sun Temple at Konarak, the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Kaziranga National Park, Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Keoladeo National Park, Churches and Convents of Goa, Group of Monuments at Hampi, Fatehpur Sikri, Group of Monuments at Pattadakal, Elephanta Caves, Brihadeeshwara Temple at Thanjavur, Sunderban’s National Park, Nanda Devi National Park, Buddhist Maonastery at Saanchi, Humayun's Tomb at Delhi and Qutab Minar and associated monuments at Delhi.

Picasso: Themes and Variations

New York: The Museum of Modern Art is hosting an exhibition named Picasso: Themes and Variations, from March 28 to August 30, 2010.This exhibition showcases Pablo Picasso's creative venture through printmaking. It features approximately 100 works from the Museum's superlative collection of the artist's prints. The exhibition is organized by Deborah Wye, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art.

As a young artist, Picasso bought a small printing press, and prints became an integral part of ongoing his work. His first series of etchings and dry points was devoted to themes of the Blue and Rose periods. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, he became engaged in printmaking, and remained so for the rest of his life. It was at that time that he grasped the descriptive prospective in his printmaking. Later he described this method of print making as his “fiction writing”.

Art 41 Basel

MF Husain's limited edition work shown to the members of Capital Club of Dubai

Satish Gujral gets felicitated with Amity Lifetime Achievement Award for Art

Other Masters of India: Contemporary creations of the Adivasis

France: Gallery Musée du quai Branly presents the works of the Adivasis of India. This exhibition unravels another face of India, the India of indigenous populations and folk communities, known as Adivasis. These people produce amazing creative visual art works that are as functional as they are sacred and quite different from the standard renowned works of India. For the very first time in France, this exhibition showcases the most representative material, day-to-day, artistic and religious productions of these Indian populations in a thematic and multi disciplinary approach thereby allowing the public to discover an important but still highly unrecognized part of the contemporary popular art scene in India.

Volte- Face: Souza's iconoclastic vision

Dhoomomal Gallery, New Delhi hosted a painting show of India's one of the celebrated artists- F.N. Souza at Lalit Kala Akademi from 9th to 18th April, 2010. The show had been curated by Yashodhara Dalmia. Along with the paintings there had been a film show named “Rebel With a Cause- Francis Newton Souza” directed by Rohit Suri which was screened from 10th to 18th April. Poetry reading sessions were also there on 12th April, where the participants were Krishen Khanna, Vinod Bhardwaj, Ashok Vajpeyi, Keshav Mallick, Jatin Das, Suneet Chopra and Prayag Shukla. On 14th April there was a discussion by Ebrahim Alkazi and Yashodhara Dalmia on the topic- “Souza and Modernity” followed by speeches from Krishen Khanna and Anjolie Ela Menon on the topic of “Souza and Me”.

Shitao’s famous work to be presented at Christie’s Hong Kong auction along with the most valuable Chinese Painting

Art Fraternity to be involved in Commonwealth Games 2010

New Delhi: The art fraternity of India is going to contribute in all ways possible in this year's Commonwealth Games to be held from October 3 to 14 by organising art exhibitions, rallies, installation shows and other events. Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev's NGO Khushii involved 11 artists including Dileep Sharma, Jagannath Panda, George Martin, Paresh Maity, Naina Kanodia, Jayshree Burman and Mithu Sen to paint rickshaws. These paintings will be a part of one of the VIP rallies at the games. Delhi Lalit Kala Akademi will also host an exhibition of works which are based on sports. Public art such as sculpture and paintings would be displayed at various locations of Delhi to promote Indian art to the visitors. The private galleries are also planning to come up with some interesting projects and environment friendly works would also be on display.

The Vancouver Biennale

The Vancouver Biennale organizes biannual public art exhibitions outdoors, making an open air museum. Each exhibition features international sculptures, new media and performance art located in parks, beaches and urban plazas. The purpose is to rejoice art in public spaces and to create an exclusively reachable cultural destiny where visitors from all over the world can come to experience contemporary art all through the seasons. The 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale has three components: Sculpture, New Media and Performance. Phase I consists of sculpture installations, with the majority installed by January 2010. The sculptures will remain on display until summer 2011. The participating artists for this Biennale are Kelly Mark, Sorel Etrog & Michel Goulet from Canada, Wang Shugang, Yue Minjun, Liu Jianhua, Michael Zheng, Jun Ren, Zhan Wang, & Gao Brothers from China, Yee Soo Kyung & Choi Taehoon from Korea, Jaume Plensa from Spain, Bernar Venet from France, John Clement, Fletcher Benton,Dennis Oppenheim, & Joe Sola from U.S.A, Javier Marin & Yvonne Domenge from Mexico, Magdalena Abakanowicz from Poland, Vladas Vildžiūnas from Lithuania, Igor Mitoraj from Italy, Sudarshan Shetty from India and Patrick Hughes & Sophie Ryder from England.