India's tryst with Cubism

Hindustan Times

13-07-2025

MUMBAI: The Poet is unlike any Rabindranath Tagore sculpture there is. It has hollowed eyes, sunken cheeks, a lifeless beard and an excavated, hollowed brain. The composition is fragmented, distorted, yet vaguely familiar. In the work, sculptor Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) has rendered the Nobel Laureate in Cubist style. India's tryst with Cubism
Pioneered by French artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism was influenced by the industrialization of the 1900s, when machines, factories, trains, buildings and geometric and structured shapes mushroomed rapidly and everywhere.
Like Baij, many Indian artists, especially the modernists, experimented with the art form. They broke away from traditional Indian styles and created new ways to express Indian identity by experimenting with western styles. They, however, introduced Indian motifs, subjects and philosophies, to create their art, which resonated with the nationalist sentiment of the time, and yet was modern. About hundred such works, by 40 artists, produced from the 1920s until about 1960s, are on display at Colaba's DAG gallery, in an exhibition titled Deconstructed Realms: India's Tryst with Cubism.
These include the works of Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Laxman Pai, Jyoti Bhatt, George Keyt and others. 'Artists have always examined any art movement—whether in India or abroad—to see if it suits their particular needs, and assimilated those that help them compose in ways that are meaningful for their audiences,' says Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director, DAG.
Accordingly, Baij in his work tries to examine Tagore's inner world. Not as a poet, composer and a scholar but a man weighed down by personal and professional anxieties, grief and the burdens of the world. 'The most interesting aspect of Cubism in India is its gentle lyricism that imbues it with an Indian aesthetic… it was its flowing lines and poetic pace that set it apart from the harshness or anxiety reflected in Western art,' adds Anand.
The exhibition traces the introduction of Cubism among Bengal artists, its refinement by those who studied or moved abroad, the blending of Cubism with regional motifs post-Independence, and the evolution of Cubist abstraction in Indian modernism. It also highlights the art style's influence on Indian modernists and how it transcended the canvas, extending into materials such as metal, wood, lacquer and cement.
Gaganendranath Tagore (1867–1938) was at the forefront of this movement. He started experimenting with Cubist techniques around 1922, after an exhibition from Germany's art school Bauhaus in Calcutta. He created several ink and wash drawings and monochrome watercolours by creating fragmented, angular forms, layering planes and geometric shapes with Indian imagery, including Indian houses and temples and everyday scenes from Bengali life. His works influenced his student Prosanto Roy, as well as Nandalal Bose, who collectively helped shape the evolution of Cubism in India.
One of the most striking works of the exhibition is Gaganendranath's black and white painting. It shows four ghost-like figures on a staircase surrounded by crammed buildings. The composition of this painting and other similar works are inspired by his experience in theatre design. He created stage-like compositions with contrasting light and dark areas populated by flat, ethereal figures.
Another noteworthy work is GR Santosh's Aspiration. Set in Kashmir, it depicts a group of women against a backdrop dotted with village huts. Their clothes and jewellery are reminiscent in their sketchy details even though the landscape is far from what one associates with the Valley. Santosh's deliberate use of non-realist colours and his rendering of the figures and landscapes in panels reflect his brief tryst with cubism.
Then there is the untitled 1952 painting by Paritosh Sen, a profile of a flautist, which was made sometime after Sen met Picasso while living in Europe. The works he produced there were simple, averse as he was to anything extraneous or superfluous, to which his interest in cubism greatly contributed. Using lines to divide the structure of the composition's subject into linear grids, Sen was mindful of his Indian heritage.
The exhibition shows how Indian artists adapted Cubism, experimented with it and used the visual style to create a new vocabulary over the years to express Indian ideas.
Where: DAG gallery, inside Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Colaba
When: On till September 6, 11am to 7 pm. Closed on Sunday
Entry is free