The Art by Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj - HTML preview

The Art

Mohan Samant

After India’s independence, a new form of In 1963, the renowned art historian and critic modern Indian art emerged in Mumbai in the John Richardson included him among the 100 greatest form of the Progressive Artists’ Group. While artists in the world. Influenced by painters like Paul most members of this group were influenced by the Klee and Picasso, Samant valued developing his own art world of Paris, Mohan Samant and M. F. Husain style and form. Although he was influenced by Western developed their own artistic language inspired by artists, he considered Indian artistic traditions more Indian painting traditions.

important. Samant once said, “You grow in what

Mohan Samant was born into a zamindar you keep creating continuously,” and “There are 25

family in Mumbai. He graduated in 1952 from the Sir different ways of painting, and when you stand before J. J. School of Arts. He received two of India’s most the canvas, 15 different forms can emerge. You do not prestigious art awards—the Gold Medal from the repeat yourself.”

Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, and the Gold Medal In the early 1950s, Samant joined the Progressive from the Bombay Art Society. He worked in Italy for Artists’ Group (PAG). While his fellow members two years (1957–58) on a scholarship from the Italian drew their primary inspiration from Paris, Samant government. Under the guidance of M. Palshikar, he explored imagery from Egyptian tomb paintings, the studied the Basohli miniature painting tradition. In murals of Ajanta, and Rajput miniature paintings, January 1959, he moved to New York on a Rockefeller establishing a series of primal images in his work. His grant. He passed away in New York in 2004.

deep study of Basohli miniature painting helped him 75