Delhi events: An art show that's all about Indian sculpture in the 20th century, in 40-plus works

Padma Vibhushan Sayed Haider Raza (1922-2016) painted well into his 90s. As he got older, though, he would tire more quickly. The paints he squeezed out onto his easel and table would dry up by the time he resumed after a rest. Again, he would squeeze out more paint, work as much as he could and let the remaining paint dry where it was. Raza’s paint-covered table and easel are on show till October 13 at the Shridharani Art Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, as part of the ‘Sculpting the Century’ show organized by Progressive Art Gallery and the Raza Foundation. This is one not-to-miss; after the show, the table and easel will return to Raza’s Delhi studio, which is still as it used to be while he was alive. Plus, this set is here by serendipity — the curator had identified another sculptural piece by Raza for the show, but it could not be arranged in time. The table and easel, with the thick paint dried on it, is moving for many reasons; the fact that the thick undulating paint evokes Raza’s early impastos, and the knowledge that this is where Raza worked in his final years. (Image of then-President Pranab Mukherjee awarding the Padma Vibhushan to S.H. Raza in 2013, via Wikimedia Commons)

The century in ‘Sculpting the Century’ is obviously the 1900s. In 1947, the Progressive Artists’ Group came together to redefine Indian art as against the colonial practices that had been foisted on local artists during the British Raj. Group members included F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara, H.A. Gade and S.K. Bakre, and later V.S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Krishen Khanna, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar, Bal Chhabda and Mohan Samant. The current exhibition has sculptural pieces by some of these painters as well. Case in point: Krishen Khanna’s ‘Bandwalla’ (2022) in bronze. Khanna, now 100 years old, started painting wedding band players in the 1970s. A keen observer of society and chronicler of the marginalised, Khanna depicted the poor musicians attired in formalwear — the military band-inspired coat and pants — as they played in wedding processions in Delhi.

At ‘Sculpting the Century’, the pieces are lined up in simple rows. Bronzes make up the majority, but leather, terracotta and wood find room here, too, as S. Nandagopal’s highly stylized bronzes inspired by South Indian temples lead to Sankho Chahudhuri’s minimalist abstracts; K. Laxma Goud’s sensuous bronzes are followed by his mentor KG Subramanyam’s leather-and-wood figures, including the kinetic toy ‘Deer’ with pull-strings for children; and KS Radhakrishnan's 73x37x7 cm ‘Maiya’ is placed next to his mentor Ramkinkar Baij’s evocative Mahatma Gandhi figure. The back wall is covered in wood cuts and toys by MF Husain. Himmat Shah’s bronzes and terracottas are lined up to one side, with Akbar Padamsee’s bronze heads for company. There are way fewer works by women — with Meera Mukherjee and Mrinalini Mukherjee holding fort, again, in this show.

Mrinalini Mukherjee is perhaps best known for her hemp and jute sculptures that depict the mythological and evoke the human form. Trained at the MS Baroda University under KG Subramanyam, Mukherjee also used terracotta and bronze in her later works. The work included in this show depicts a flower — the bud unfurling as the flower blooms. Notice the veins on the terracotta petals. In the show catalogue, curator Yashodhara Dalmia writes: “In the plant formation in the show the terracotta configuration billows out swaying with the breeze as it were. The lush vegetal growth seems infused with fertility while spreading outwards denoting a rich horizon of abundance and fecundity as well as a prescient sense of an apocalyptic reality.”

There are sculptures here by people we primarily know as painters and printmakers, too. Krishen Khanna’s ‘Bandwalla’ hunched over playing the Sax stands close to Subramanyam’s ‘Goat’ in leather and wood. A wood sculpture by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh titled ‘Tree to Tree’ (acrylic, teak and plywood) recalls his 'yellow period' and the recurring motif of trees in his works. A Sakti Burman’s Krishna-like figure in bronze is across the room from Akbar Padamsee’s bronze heads. And a bronze work by Satish Gujral depicting two figures caught mid-dance; the woman playing cymbals and the man following behind her. (Pictured above are bronzes by Satish Gujral and Sakti Burman, shown as part of 'Sculpting the Century')

Without a doubt, the exhibition offers a sampling menu of sorts: Works by India’s best sculptors, albeit offered without much comment. There are works here by Chittagong-born Somnath Hore who was deeply affected by the Bengal famine and captured human suffering in his sketches, prints and sculptures. (Don’t miss his works depicting Rabindra Nath Tagore — pictured here, and a bird in minimal metal).

There’s work by Sankho Chaudhuri here, too. Among the earliest and strongest abstractionists India has produced, Chaudhuri’s flowing lines mark a clear departure from European naturalism in modern Indian sculpture. Like his teacher Ramkinkar Baij, Chaudhuri worked with all kinds of materials from cement to terracotta and stone. This show, however, only showcases his bronzes (to be fair, a Raza Foundation member explained that limitations of space and logistical difficulties like transporting fragile works impacted the selection of works for this exhibition, too).

Baij himself only gets one pedestal here; and even in this company, his work stands out. Don’t miss the Gandhi sculpture at the back of the room.

In a different iteration, the pieces in this show might have been arranged chronologically, by state, style, schools (Bengal, Baroda, Madras movement, etc.) or even by medium and theme. Each of these artists — many of them Padma Awardees who have been facilitated by our arts Akademis — has produced enough work to have a show of their own. Indeed, most have had multiple retrospectives. Case in point: Himmat Shah — who died earlier this year at 91 — had massive retrospectives at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi in 2016 and then in Jaipur’s Jawahar Kala Kendra in 2018. In the show at Triveni Kala Sangam, a terracotta head by Shah (pictured above) evokes his early life in Lothal, Gujarat, where an Indus Valley Civilization dig caused his family to give up some of their ancestral land in the area.

Every artist whose works are on show here was hugely influential in their own way. Some like Ramkinkar Baij, KG Subramanyan, Prodosh Das Gupta and Himmat Shah were teachers as well as artists and inspired a whole generation of sculptors. Almost all members of the Mumbai Progressive Art Group continue to stay in the headlines, and headline art shows, in addition to fetching some of the highest prices for Indian art in auctions. Most had major commissions for works in government buildings. Amarnath Sehgal, whose Gandhi statue still stands in Luxembourg City’s Municipal Park, had a large work at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi. When it was removed without his permission in 1979, Sehgal filed a case — the Delhi High Court finally awarded damages to Sehgal in 2005, recognizing the artist’s moral right over the work under the Indian Copyright Act. (Pictured above: painted wood on board and tempera works from MF Husain's toys series)

At the risk of flattening what is really a richly storied collection, here’s a list of artists whose works are included in the show: Ramkinkar Baij, K.S. Subramanyan, Somnath Hore, Sankho Chaudhuri, Prodosh Dasgupta, Meera Mukherjee, A. Davierwalla, S.K. Bakre, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Krishen Khanna, Chintamoni Kar, K. Laxma Goud, Amarnath Sehgal, Satish Gujral, Himmat Shah, B. Vithal, S. Dhanpal, S.Nandagopal, K.S. Radhakrishnan, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Mrinalini Mukherjee and Ved Nayar. In the show catalogue, Raza Foundation founder and executive trustee, and feted poet Ashok Vajpeyi, wrote: “Modern Indian sculpture has inherited the great and complex traditions of Indian sculpture as well as has responded to growing modernity, equally complex and innovative. As the works included in the show exemplify, sculpture has incorporated memory and heritage, extended them to include a more restless, in many ways, unsettling present. The sculpture creates an ethos of recall and resource and yet asserts the moment. It moves in a space merging the time and the timeless creating moments of meditative silence, of seamless merger and, oftentimes, of creative tension.” (Pictured above: Works by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Ramkinkar Baij and B. Vithal)

Despite the long list of names here, there are some important sculptors who — perhaps for more banal reasons like space, logistics and availability — have not been included in the show. Two names that stand out are KCS Paniker and DP Roy Choudhury. Paniker’s son S. Nandagopal is featured prominently in the show. And if you are in Delhi, perhaps you can get a sense of Choudhury’s monumental bronzes by looking at the Gyarah Murti sculpture depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s salt march in 1930. (Pictured here: S Nandagopal’s Memories of a Hero Stone IV; welded copper and cast bronze supported by iron armature; 111 x 72 x 29 cm; 2001)

Finally, the exhibition organised by the Progressive Art Gallery and the Raza Foundation, contains just one piece by B. Vithal. The 57 x 39 x 45 cm ‘Portrait of J.R.D. Tata’ is a superb likeness of the industrialist in bronze. Trained at the Sir J.J. School of Art, Vithal worked as a sign painter and designer of events stages and wedding mandapams to supplement his income. These experiences are said to have given him an appreciation for working with different materials. Walk around the sculpture depicting the head of J.R.D. Tata; to note the details captured here, from the lined forehead to the waves in his hair.

'Sculpting the Century' is on till October 13. (Pictured here: 'Deer' by KG Subramanyam)