Important Notice

In 1963, Jagdish Swaminathan founded Group 1890, an artists’ collective that rejected academic, nationalist, and pastoral leanings in modern European and Indian art. In their place, the group idealized classical Indian miniatures and folk art. In these, Swaminathan saw the future of modern Indian art. As he explained, “…painting was never meant to ‘represent’ reality in the naturalistic ‘objective’ sense; it was the cogent and poetic rendering... In 1963, Jagdish Swaminathan founded Group 1890, an artists’ collective that rejected academic, nationalist, and pastoral leanings in modern European and Indian art. In their place, the group idealized classical Indian miniatures and folk art. In these, Swaminathan saw the future of modern Indian art. As he explained, “…painting was never meant to ‘represent’ reality in the naturalistic ‘objective’ sense; it was the cogent and poetic rendering of ideal truth in terms of two dimensional space. The fact that the ‘modern’ movement in India did not take off from the spatial concepts evolved in traditional Indian painting at once explains the poverty of its contribution” (as quoted in Back to the Future: 1989-2005, Gallery Espace exhibition catalogue, 2006, unpaginated).

Swaminathan’s response to the challenge of offering a new brand of Indian modernism came in the form of his Mountain, Bird and Tree series of works. Bold colours paired with simple forms characterize these canvases, which the artist began to paint in the late 1960s. With their limiting borders and flat expanses of bright colour reminiscent of Pahari miniatures, these conceptual landscapes communicate Swaminathan’s vision of a ‘virginal state’ of nature. It was his belief that there was a great deal of the universe that remained unrealized to humans, which could only be discovered through by achieving this transcendental, pristine natural state. To Swaminathan, then, these canvases were visual guides, helping his viewers find a tranquil existence beyond the false limits of their daily lives.

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site