Abstraction in Contemporary Indian Art

In India, abstract art was not so much a culmination of a logical process in the development of the vocabulary of art, but more a search for purity of line, colour and form by artists in the 50s and the 60s.

The late Vasudeo S Gaitonde’s introspective nature found the engagement with colour and texture- uncluttered by content or narrative – a satisfactory way to deal with his canvas surface. A Zen like contemplative approach informs his canvases. The two other artists who approached the pictorial space as if it were a philosophical engagement are Jeram Patel and late Nasreen Mohamedi. Whereas Patel’s statement is boldly assertive with a richness of tone, Nasreen Mohamedi’s drawings reveal an austere aesthetics that permits no excess.

There are many artists who, from landscapes, moved towards abstractions. Ganesh Haloi of Calcutta readily comes to mind. Many of the artists close to the Progressive Artists Groups and Syed Haider Raza, a founder member of the PAG, experimented with abstraction from the 70s onwards. Their new orientation was not devoid of philosophical questions relating to the nature of the image.

Works of Krishen Khanna, Jehangir Sabavala, Ram Kumar, Akbar Padamsee, Jagdish Swaminathan, Eric Bowen, Mona Rai, Biren De, GR Santosh, OP Sharma, Soha Qadri, SG Vasudev, Prabhakar Kolt’s and V Viswanadhan which find prominent place in the NGMA, are exemplary.

The collection of abstract art at the NGMA showcases the diverse use of material, colours, forms and textures. Moreover, it ranges from ascetic simplicity to a rich sensuousness in mood and imagination.