PAINTING

In his personal life, as he grew in age, Virendra Kumar has discovered some mystical traits which lead him to spend many years in this direction under Mystics and Saints. Although, in his approach, he has been open-minded towards various types of art styles, at least this gives a clue for his personal predilection for the Neo-Tantric art. Virendra Kumar's journey of life is as much a journey within the art world as it has been of any major creative artist, with combinations of passion, tension, doubts, agony, disillusionment, and yet at the same time feel the aesthetic thrill while handling the works.

Virendra Kumar simultaneously has the boldness of vision to attempt to explore international market for the emerging modern art in India. First such exhibition he helped to arrange was in Germany in 1959. He is thus the initiator of the art market for contemporary art in our country as well as having an eye on its global possibility, himself also extensively traveling in Europe and USA over the years. Indeed there are definite indications that besides the Western art collectors, collectors in other parts of the world are also motivated towards acquiring contemporary Indian art. Thus bringing it into the mainstream of the global art market.

Virendra Kumar's involvement with the creative careers of the struggling artists from 1950s onwards should be regarded as much a part of the historical growth of contemporary Indian Art. The way he, along with his brothers, promoted the artistic development of some of them like Kulkarni, Husain, Souza, Santosh and Ramachandran, shows his faith in their creative intuitions. Shall we see in his venture as art promoter, an enterprise for making money, or for gaining prestige on the cost of artist, or as much to take risk as the artist was taking, but also his own realization that he loves to be in the world of art and its creation. His venture has given good results. The present vibrant situation in contemporary Indian art has vindicated his resolve and calculated risk.

The next generation of artists who followed on the heels of the previous generation was also spotted by the sharp eyes of Virendra Kumar, like Biren De, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, Shanti Dave, G. R. Santosh, A. Ramachandran and others. Of course, especially history will remember him for his dramatic intervention in the rise of Tantric Art. Its discovery in the 'Indian tradition' by his 'putsch' to Ajit Mookerjee's research on Tantra Art, besides consistent support for many years to Gulam Rasool Santosh (one of the most characteristic of Tantra artists).

But the private patronage which was forthcoming at that juncture through the Kumar Gallery (since 1950s) whose moving spirit was Virendra Kumar Jain, a young but a bold enterprising person whose gamble in supporting many of the emerging artists now proves him to have been so perceptive and so full of insight. Combining business acumen with eye for the significant art works and through these the artists who created them, his place is as much a part of this National 'Zeitgeist' of the 1950s, as much as the actual artists themselves, as one fired by the same 'spirit'.

Amidst the developments mentioned above, we have also to note, of course, the beginning of the Government patronage (i.e. the commitment of 'state' patronage) through setting up of the Lalit Kala Akademi as well as the National Gallery of Modern Art, including prizes and purchases, both at national and regional level.

The 'spirit' of the 'zeitgeist' of a time or era in the life of a culture that I have been talking about (we may call it also the 'moment') is a Hegelian concept as the circumstances at the beginning of the Post-Independence period of India, considering the tremendous fervor and optimism in so many spheres-political, social, economic and cultural forms (literature, theater, film, dance, music, architecture) -appropriately justify bringing in this notion here.

Calcutta, during the late forties, had witnessed artists responding to the Bengal famine as well as the setting up of the Calcutta Group who, among other aspects, had the example of Jamini Roy's new works before them. These artists continued working seriously into the 1950s such as Somnath Hore, Paritosh Sen, Gopal Ghosh, Prodosh Das Gupta, Gobardhan Ash. Indeed it can be claimed that it is the formation of Calcutta Group and the exhibition of Jamini Roy's works in Bombay during the late 1940s (with the records of press reviews) which were among the sources of inspiration to the artists in Western India. Activities in Madras are recorded with D. P. Roy Chaudhury's later sculptures and the rise of K.C.S. Paniker and Dhanapal as teachers of painting and sculpture respectively, subsequently to formalise in the formation of the Chola Mandal, as a South Indian answer to Modern Art Movement in the rest of the country.

Often the Progressive Artists' Group, set up in Mumbai during the late 1940s, has been singled out as a demarcating line, but it is significant that even some of the painters of this group began doing the justifiable noteworthy work only during the early 1950s like, Souza, Husain, Raza, Ara and Bakre (the latter in Sculpture).
Today we can look with an eye on parallel manifestations and it is very striking to note that with N.S. Bendre, Sankho Chaudhuri and the then young K.G. Subramanyan moving to Baroda by 1950-51, an active scene began emerging there due to what I call the winds of change blowing from Bombay so that soon the Baroda Group of Artists could be formed in 1956, with such youngsters as Shanti Dave, Santosh, Jyoti Bhatt, Ratan Parimoo and others. With the setting up of the Delhi Shilpi Chakra Group during early 1950s by the migrating artists arriving from Lahore and other resident artists including Sailoz Mookherjea, B.C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, Dinkar Kowshik, K.S. Kulkarni followed by Satish Gujaral's return from Mexico, the dormant situation suddenly picked up dynamism in Delhi.

I find the present occasion, the exhibition of Kumar Gallery's Collection: Modern Indian Paintings, One Hundred Years, as very appropriate to write about the 'Spirit of the 1950s', which struck many creative minds and spread in several parts of the country, a phenomenon which from the vantage point of more than four decades as on today undoubtedly cries to be recognized as a most significant turning point in the development of Modern Indian Art. It was consciously the starting point of a new introspection after the Bengal school 'Revival Movement'. The Independence in 1947 was a 'moment' of continued nationalistic fervour combined with a fresh nation-wide excitement and optimism inspite of the heavy sufferings as a result of the partition of the subcontinent.

Emerging Contemporary Indian Art
and
the Kumar Gallery

Man with a Hukka
(Gouache)
Jamini Roy
ID: 001170