Contemporary painting and Indian politics

[ramana]

Two inexpensive books to read published by NBT are:
1) Indian Painting by C. Sivaramamurti (Rs. 60)
2) Contemporary Art in India by Pran Nath Mago (Rs. 250/500)

The first book brings one up to speed with Indian painting since ancient times to colonial times. The latter covers last 150 years.

I am still in process of acquiring the latter book.

Then compare with Art and the Western World.

One notes that portraiture in the Western Christian world started with the Crusade encounter.

I don't see any critique of western art through Indian eyes. Maybe study of art was considered foo-foo subject and not jingo enough. But in my opinion art is a powerful weapon that can be used to bring about social change. The early Buddhists knew this and popularized the Katha style of dance to tell stories of social and religious change. This vehicle was adopted even by Russian Communists during the Tsarist days. But Indians lost the touch as usual.


Also look at the paintings on exotic india arts site
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/