Then and now - Raja Ravi Verma's women

The depiction of women in Raja Ravi Verma's women were a sign of the times, and as he saw and understood them..

The women were all drawn from mythological characters, the Hindu epics, or from royal households. The artist has either deified them, or painted goddesses themselves, or painted "Naayikas" or heroines: bejewelled and silk-saree clad women of leisure. The women gracefully reclined or rested against pillars, in grassy meadows, well tended gardens and in opulent palaces.

The exhibition at Art Alive, Gurgaon is interesting in its modern interpretations, and is on for the whole month. I certainly found it worth a visit, and have mentioned it here before.
Sharing here two such interpretations: the first is trademark Atul Dodiya.

The second work is by Paresh Maity.

The line, the story and the image

The new and interesting works in painting were to be found in the contemporary art galleries, and in some of the international galleries, at the India Art Fair.

Nissim Ben Aderet sketches only in black and white. Also, his compositions are done entirely with lines of different tones. I was delighted to meet the artist at the fair, and he shared that he uses a single, or continuous line "in one breath" as it were, to create his work.
As you can see in the image, with his "one-line" composition, the artist is able to create entire sets of people, spaces, and relationships. There were several such one-of a-kind artists at the fair.





The established Indian galleries had works of a lot of senior artists on view. There were several gems among them. But one would have wished to see newer works as well. Some of the senior artists had included some of their newer work for the Art Fair as well, like these paintings and installations of Paresh Maity.

Sights and Sounds at the India Art Fair

The India Art Fair is on at NSIC grounds, New Delhi for one more day. While there were a lot of "classics" on display, what I really liked were all the different kinds of installations. There was a huge variety in terms of subjects handled, materials used, and the kind of visual experience.

I have shown images hereof some of the ones that I liked just to share the great variety:

Interesting textured surfaces...shadows and shapes, an animal head,.....and drapes.....







Each one of these rounded baubles was like a large lens with different images being formed in each case. Different fabrics encased each of the shiny baubles, and they were strung together and draped over the edge of this sofa.....and then, there was the ascetic...

Visitors would of course have their own interpretations, but there was not too much out-to-shock kind of variety, just layers of complexity, and visual appeal...