Monday, August 20, 2007

Famous Art Galleries in India

Art gallery or art museum is a room or a place where various art forms are exhibited on a large scale. These art forms basically include visual arts and paintings of famous artists from all over the world.

Owing to the vast culture and artistic excellence in India, various art galleries are found in India. These galleries are found with exotic masterpieces that reflects the culture and tradition of the country. The number of museums in the country is increasing due to the growing interest of people towards art and culture.

Some of the famous art galleries in India are:
Chitra Art Gallery of Trivandrum: Established in 1935, the gallery displays Tanjore miniature paintings, Roerich paintings, miniatures, manuscripts and mural paintings. The exotic possession of this gallery is the famous paintings of Raja Ravi Varma.
Renaissance Art Gallery in Bangaluru: This gallery displays an exotic collection of Indian Paintings, Indian Fine Art, realistic art of India and handmade art works.
Jehangir Art Gallery of Mumbai: The gallery was established in 1952 by Sir Cowasji Jehangir. The gallery exhibits eclectic collection of paintings and art works of famous artists and painters.
Aryan Art Gallery in Delhi and Hongkong: It is one of the most authentic art galleries that display a collection of Indian contemporary paintings and art works.

There are several other art galleries around the country. Some of them are as follow:

National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi
Archaeological Museum, Bihar
National Museum of India, Delhi
Dhoomimal Art Gallery, Delhi
Lalit Kala Akademy, Delhi
Palette Art Gallery, Delhi
Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad
Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai
British Art Gallery, Mumbai
Russian Cultural Center, Mumbai
Aurobindo Art Gallery, Delhi


Online art galleries in India
1) ART
2) Art Galleries

Contemporary Indian Art

The word contemporary refers to something that is popular in the present era. Music, events, dance and even art can be contemporary. Art produced since World War II or post 1960 is popularly defined as contemporary art. This is because during late 1900s the concept of art was greatly influenced by socio economic, cultural, political and educational changes. These changes further created problem in recognizing any dominant form or types of art. Hence, the word contemporary was used to define art of post 1960-modernist period.

There are a number of contemporary artist whose art works have gained recognition since 1960 and are acclaimed world wide even today. The artists have come up with various innovative ideas and designs. The art works of these artists depicts racism, global warming, body art, economics, religious beliefs, cultural issues, human rights, personal happenings, social issues and many such issues that reflect the beauty of Indian culture and tradition.

India is a home town of renowned contemporary art that is famous worldwide. An exotic collection of Indian art work is displayed in various art galleries. This exotic collection captivates the aesthetics of common man and links the common man from each other by expressive art works.

Famous Indian Artist

India is a country with diversity in culture and tradition. Owing to its vast culture and artistic mind of its people, the country tends to produce amazing and unique art work. Since time immemorial Indian art has been preserved from ravages of time and fury of nature. The value of the art culture of India has reached the acme in art industry because of various Indian artists who have produced exclusive art pieces with their creativity, style and innovation.

Some of the famous Indian artists are:

Maqbool Fida Husain: He is popularly known as M.F.Husain, the most famous and enigmatic Indian artist. Husain was born in a traditional Muslim family in 1915 at Pandharpur, Maharashtra. He painted myriad of images that depicts personal happenings, human miseries and Indian culture. His luminous art forms also include various ethnic, mythological and religious themes.65
Ravi Varma: He is one of the most famous Indian painters, born in Kerala. He painted scenes from Indian epics, figures of Hindu God and mythological scenes. His paintings also provide gallery of images that reflects the beauty of Indian women.
Tyeb Mehta: He is a great Indian artist whose paintings reflect supreme authenticity. Born in July 1925 in Kapadvanj district of Gujarat, Tyeb painted images of rickshaw wallas, tethered bull, encrusted images and mythological characters.
Amrita Shergil: She is an eminent painter of India. Her paintings depict the lives of poor Indians, especially the activities and sorrow of Indian women. Hill men, fruit vendors, starving men and saints were the common images of her paintings.
Ram Kumar: He is a contemporary artist born in 1924 in Shimla. His artwork portrays the living conditions of human, beautiful landscapes and scenes from Indian dramas.
Sri Gauranga Kundu: A great Indian artist who is famous for contemporary art. His paintings depict personal happenings, miseries and incidents.
Francis Newton Souza: He is one of the most eminent Indian artists, born in April 1928 at Goa in a Christian family. He painted beautiful and captivating landscapes, crucifixes, popes and priests.

Art Exhibitions

Art Exhibition is simply defined as a collection of art works for public display. Art works may include pictures, exotic paintings, drawings, sculptures, etchings, collage, abstracts, miniatures or decors. The exhibition is held in a huge space that has a good lighting effect to have a better view of the objects displayed. Best places for presenting these art works are museums, art halls or art galleries. The main motive of organizing art exhibitions is to promote various forms of art and to bring new artists into light.

There are various types of art exhibitions. Some of the most common types are as follows:
Retrospective: An art exhibition that displays all the art works of a particular artist, produced over a considerable period of time.
Juried Exhibition: In this type there is a judge who selects the objects to be displayed from the submitted artworks.
Invitational Exhibition: Here the organizer of the event requests some popular artist to display their work.
Open Exhibition: In this kind of exhibition any artist can display his work.
Solo Show: This kind represents the work of one single artist.

India with its vast and diverse craft culture is attracting a huge number of people from every corner of the world. Various art galleries serve as a common platform to display the most exclusive and attractive masterpieces produced by famous Indian artists.

Indian Paintings

Indian painting is a reflection of the country’s rich culture and tradition. Along with the rich culture, the country also possesses some excellent painters who make authenticate and unique paintings with their imaginations and creativity. Some painters who have gained accolades in the international arena are Amrita Shergil, Ravi Varma, Tyeb Mehta and M.F.Husain.

The history of Indian paintings dates back to the pre historic times when rock painting was discovered in Bhimbetka. Over a period of time paintings further emerged and the country witnessed the magnificent pillar Ellora painted in shades of red and orange. Later on, various events from the Buddhist Literature were painted using various colors prepared from minerals. With the passage of time innovative ideas and styles of paintings came up that has continued captivating the hearts of common man.

The most common form of Indian paintings is the mural and miniature. Mural is a painting that is executed on a wall, ceiling or large solid surfaces while miniature is a detailed painting that is executed on small surfaces like paper, cloth, tiles, etc. Other form of paintings includes Mughal painting, Mysore painting and Tanjore painting. Mughal paintings emerged during the Mughal Empire and were a kind of miniature. Mysore paintings evolved in South India and showed illustrations of mythological themes. Tanjore paintings emerged in the 9th century and portrayed Hindu Gods and Goddess.

Indian painting is powerful in the sense of beauty because it manifests perfect expression of harmony and inspires the common man with a new aesthetic perception.

Investing in Indian Art

Arts have a high place in the evolution of the race and the actual life of human beings. The art and craft industry is evolving with steadily rising prices over the last 50 years. This steady increase in price combined with added excellence in artworks has made art an asset for investment.

Before investing in art it is very essential to know the hidden value of the particular artwork. The hidden value includes popularity of the artist, history of the artwork, quality of the work, number of exhibitions held by that artist and the previous work of that particular artist. Learning these hidden values can help to achieve greater returns over a prolonged period of time.
Indian art is as diverse as its culture and tradition. The country possesses great artists who produce unique masterpieces, recognized on the global platform. The art industry of the country is estimated to be over INR 500 crores with an annual growth of 35-40% per year. The rising price trend is one of the major reasons of investing in Indian art. Indian artist like M.F.Husain, Tyeb Mehta, Amrita Shergil, Tagore and Ram Kumar are considered to be blue chips of the stock market.

Investing in art has become a niche in the investment sector. This is because of the fact that art is the only survival during economic downturn. Like other financial assets, value of art does not fall down when the market rates are at the lowest. Instead, the art value is rising every day and can prove to be financially rewarding over the long run.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Indian art

Indian art has entered a new Era.
The mushrooming of Online Art Galleries in India,
astounding prices of Indian paintings being sold at Christies....
Is this all an art bubble ?
love art for artsake !


India Art sites launched this month.

1) http://www.art.in/ - Love this one, free profiles for Indian artists.

2) http://www.artgalleries.co.in/ - Listing directory for Indian artists, art buyers, and Indian art galleries, suppliers & dealers.


What is art ?

Art is simply defined as a product of human’s creativity. Man with his imaginations, creativity and artistry produces an array of objects that reflects beauty, tradition, culture and emotions. The concept of art was originated in India during Indus Valley Civilization. Indian Art has withstood the ravages of time and has always revolved around cultural affairs, religious beliefs, local needs of Indian people and royal lifestyle.

The Indus Valley Civilization was known for its vibrant and exquisite pottery, sculpture and jewelry. The rich Vedic Period followed the arts of Indus Civilization with added technical expertise in pottery making, weaving and wood crafting. Later during the Mauryan Empire, the royal lifestyle and religious affairs introduced new and artistic products with high degree of excellence and creativity. The Gupta Period showed a major boost in the craft tradition of India. The live example of art and craft of this golden period is the caves of Ajanta and Ellora. Then with the passage of time varied designs and styles came up.

Today, the artistic inclination of ancient man is revealed in a huge range of products like almirah, cabinets, paintings, sculptures, pots, jewelry, decors, pillars and many more. Some of the other exclusive art work includes typography, needlework, patch work, lace making, paper marbling, leather carving, glass blowing, wood burning, miniatures, appliqué and many more in various hues, designs and intricate patterns. These exotic artifacts are products of artistic mind of Indian people and captivate the aesthetics of modern man all over the globe.

India today is carving a niche on the platform of art and craft. The exclusive Indian art is being acclaimed all over the world for its diversity and uniqueness.