MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN J & K
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MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN J & K
THE CURATOR’S BRIEF by Veer Munshi |
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 t was matter of great pride to visit the archives of J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in Srinagar and Jammu. The Academy archive has the richest collection of Indian Artists which includes almost every artist of J&K. This collection has been built over the period of four to five decades through art workshops/camps initiated by Sh. G.R. Santosh which incidentally was the first art camp movement in India. Great artists like Bendre, Swaminathan, Shanko Choudhry, S.H.Raza, Gulam Sheikh, M.F.Hussain, Ramachandran, Ramkumar Balchabda, Manu Parikh, Paramjit Singh, Arpita, S.R.Bushan and many other significant artists from J&K and other places participated in these camps. These masters not only left behind the great works but also influenced the J&K artist in their art practice. As I remember our generation have been initiated and grown in visual art by seeing these masters at work in such art workshops.Cultural academy is exhibiting around 43 paintings of J&K artists from its collection at IGNCA New Delhi, which ranges the works of three generations. This exhibition aspires to evoke emotional climates of memory and recall - a loop in which the past and present blur, in keeping with changing emotional/social/political climates. J&K artists have made huge contribution in world of art. It gives sense of great pleasure to see the works of S.N.Bhat, Trilok Koul, G.R.Santosh, Suraj Tikoo, Mohan Raina, Nisar Aziz, Bansi Parimoo, P.N.Kachroo, M.Sadiq and others as the first generation of artists to practice modern art - in fact they where the contemporaries to a progressive group which led the great art movement in India. It was a time when Kashmir experienced renaissance in art and culture - may it be radio, stage, theatre, music, poetry, literature or art. It was a blend of many creative streams of that era and intellectual property was respected hugely. It influenced another generation of artists in the early 60s who remained most enthusiastic art practitioners. Among the significant contributors were artists like Bushan Koul, Gayoor Hussan, Kishori Koul, A.R.John, Vijay Gupta, V.R. Khajuria, N.D.Jamwal, A.K.Raina, Gokul Dembi, Shiban Kaw, Rajender Patwari, K.Khosa, T.S.Batra and M.A.Mehboob.  Most of them got trained in Baroda and thus inherited the richness of expression from N.S.Bendre, KG.Subramanium and Shanku Choudry. Having great academic skills, some of these artists took the additional responsibility of setting the two art institutions in Srinagar and Jammu under the Cultural Academy. They not only practiced art but taught a number of students who turned to be the future contemporary artists like Vijay Saraf, RajinderTiku, Shaika Muhi, Shora Bashir, Shuja Sultan, Ashok Mehra, Nasreen Shazadi, Aftab Ahmed, Bushan Kesar, Shabir Mirza, Suman Gupta among others. Lately artists like Shafi Chaman, Masood Hussain, Harshvardan, RavinderJamwal and others joined the brigade and became part of these institutions to contribute in the fields of art and teaching.I acknowledge deeply the significant role of IGNCA and Academy of Art Culture and Languages to make this show possible. VEER MUNSHI Artist Curator of the show |
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Suraj Tikoo-1965
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S.N. Bhat- 1970
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Bansi Parimoo- 1972
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Trilok Koul-1975
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Veer Munshi- 1997 |
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G.R. Santosh
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Gokul Dembi- 1976
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Kishori Koul- 1980
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