Tag: Rabindranath Tagore

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Watch: ‘Three women’, at the NCPA

Lavish costumes, live electronica and folk pop music and three fascinating characters make this production a must watch this weekend.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Avid Learning, in partnership with NCPA, Neerupama Properties and Godrej Properties will present Isheeta Ganguly’s, Three Women,  a musical theatre production based on three iconic women that represent Rabindranath Tagore’s Bengali Renaissance, two of whom are fictional and one who is from his own life. ‘Bimala’, the female protagonist of Tagore’s novella The Home and the World and ‘Charu’, her counterpart from his work The Broken Nest, are seen from the perspective of ‘Kadambari Devi’, Tagore’s sister-in-law and lifetime muse, as they instigate change from patriarchy towards  progression and freedom.

Set to electronika and folk-pop beats and laced with pathos and edgy humour, MeherAcharia Dar, AvantikaAkerker and IsheetaGanguly play urban, educated women of the 21st century, who are negotiating their notion of identity and self-worth in relation to the times that they live in, voicing issues relevant to the global gender empowerment discussion. With customised costumes by TarunTahiliani and live accompaniment by Sunita Bhuyan on the violin and Suchet Malhotra on percussion, this production, written, directed and musically composed by Isheeta Ganguly is a sensorial treat with gravitas.

After drawing a crowd of over a thousand people at the Kala Ghoda Festival in February 2014, this show’s national tour kicks off from the NCPA on Saturday, May 10, 2014, in Mumbai. 

(Pictures courtesy NCPA)

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Do

Never too old to sketch

That’s what drives the landscape and portrait sketching workshops for adults at the NGMA, with some Rabindranath Tagore thrown in.
by Medha Kulkarni

Summer time is vacation time. There are a plethora of all kinds of workshops and events for children. But what about the adults? Why isn’t there ever a hobby class or summer workshop for adults?

This summer, the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is set to right this wrong by organising workshops specifically for adults. As a part of The Last Harvest exhibition curated by noted art historian Prof R Sivakumar to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore on May 8, 2012, the workshops aim to provide a hands-on, practical insight into Rabindranath Tagore’s style of painting and his use of mediums and their execution.

The workshops start with a tour of the exhibition, and a discussion on the works before splitting into two separate art workshops. The portrait-sketching workshop will be conducted by Parul V Mehta and the landscape sketching one will be conducted by Geeta Kapadia. Both Mehta and Kapadia are practising artists and have exhibited in galleries in India and abroad.
The interactive sketching workshops will open up a new avenue through which Tagore’s works can be studied while highlighting the importance of portraiture and landscapes in his works. Aside from the sketching lesson, participants will also gain a detailed understanding of Tagore’s humanistic qualities and his various achievements in the field of arts in India and internationally, juxtaposed with little-known facts about his personal life and family, glimpses of which can be seen in the works.

The workshops will be held at the NGMA every Wednesday from May 8, 2013 to June 5, 2013 from 11 am to 1 pm. The workshop is free and open to all although seating is limited (20 people per session) so it’s best to register beforehand. You can email Parul at parulvmehta@gmail.com to register. All sketching materials will be provided to the participants.

 

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Event

Osian’s Indian miniatures auction on April 13

Historically-significant Indian miniatures, modern art pieces include Mandi School works which had left India in 1960s before being purchased back.
by Osian

Opening its new annual calendar of auctions, Osian’s is bringing together a wide range of historically significant Indian miniatures and modern art in its Forty Masterpieces Auction to be held on Saturday, 13 April 2013, in Mumbai.

The opening preview exhibition of the Auction will be held at 7 pm on Friday, April 5, at the Osian’s Headquarters at G-2B Nariman Bhavan, Nariman Point. The Auction lots will be available for private previews at the same site from April 6 to April 12, 2013.

The auction comprises of 40 lots and is valued at the lower estimate at approximately Rs 5.6 crore (higher estimate Rs 8.4 crore; with average estimated lot price range Rs 14 to 21 lakh). Among the highlights in the section on Indian miniatures, there are some brilliant Mandi School works from the Ramayana and Devi Mahatmya series originally from the Royal Mandi Library Collection, which had left India in the 1960s and was purchased back by Osian’s from various Sotheby’s auctions to bring them back to India in 2005-2006. These works cannot be exported out of India now.

A few highlights among the masterpieces of the Modern Art Section include the works of Modern Masters of the Bombay, Bengal and Baroda School. The Auction includes a very rare and brilliant little work by early academic school modern master, Rao Bahadur MV Dhurandhar; rare and important paintings by Abanindranath, Gaganendranth and Rabindranath Tagore; a magnificent large oil on canvas painting by the master artist of both India and Pakistan, Ustad Allah Buksh; Jagdish Swamninathan’s  famous ‘Bird, Tree, Mountain’ Series purchased from the artist in 1979; the very best early etchings by master printmaker Laxman Goud on which his fame was established; leading British sculptor, Sir Jacob Epstein’s famous bronze Head of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru; Himmat Shah’s uniquely brilliant signature style terracotta heads; an impressively large commissioned portrait by Hemendranath Mazumdar and powerfully evocative paintings by the masters DP Roy Chowdhury, Ramkinkar Baij, Sanat Kumar Chatterjee, and Nikhil Biswas among many others.

Regarding the consolidation and re-strengthening of the Osian’s Group and the Auction House, Neville Tuli, Chairman, Osian’s Group says, “For the first time we have a fixed annual calendar for the Auction House, ranging from auctions for the antiquities, fine and popular arts, to film and sporting memorabilia, to rare books, prints and photographs. The Auction House has been separated from all other activities (eg. the film festival, the conservation laboratory, the museum, and the like) so as to make it a specialised leader once again and to start rebuilding the market for the India’s arts, culture and heritage. The last few years have seen immense pressures and challenges, and they have only made us recognise that the unique business model for the arts needs ever more diligence, buffers and care. A strong art market is pivotal for the growth of knowledge and the spreading of awareness and sensitivity regarding one’s cultural heritage.”

(Pictures courtesy Osian’s) 

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