Modern masters of figurative Indian paintings at Met Museum

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Museum of Manila gives viewers a glimpse of various influences that have shaped Indian contemporary art in “Kalapana: 14 Figurative Painters in India in Conversation with Filipino Artists,” which is on view until Jan. 30 at the Upper Galleries, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila.

Featured artists are Jamini Roy, Amrita Shergil, MF Husain, KG Subramanyan, FN Souza, Krishen Khanna, Tyeb Mehta, Bhupen Khakhar, A. Ramachandran, Arpita Singh, Jogen Chowdhury, Anjolie Ela Menon, Manjit Bawa, and Arpana Caur.

The show features local painting traditions of rural and folk art, miniaturism, mural painting, and Hindi-inspired illustrations. It also presents artworks that resulted in the synergy of Indian artistic expressions with Western art that loudly emerged in the Indian art scene during the 1950s, spurred by the seminal Progressive Artists Group of Souza, Khana, and Husain.

For the Philippine leg of the “Kalpana” tour, the Indian works are placed in conversation with works by Filipino artists such as National Artists BenCab, Cesar Legaspi, Vicente Manansala, J. Elizalde Navarro, and Ang Kiukok, as well as Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Nena Saguil, Malang, Galo Ocampo, Prudencio Lamarroza, Antipas Delotavo, and Onib Olmedo, to reveal confluences and divergences in the modern figurative painting tradition between the two cultures.

The Philippine works featured in the exhibit have been loaned from the painting collections of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The exhibit is co-presented by the Embassy of India with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and India.

For inquiries, call 523-0613 or 5211517.