Catalog

THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY COMPLEX
INAUGURAL SHOW

MASTERS OF
INDIAN ART

2016

THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY COMPLEX

INAUGURAL
SHOW

MASTERS OF
INDIAN ART

2016

THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY COMPLEX
INAUGURAL SHOW

MAOSTFERS
INDIAN

ART

2016

THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY

MANAGING COMMITTEE

SHRI. VASUDEO KAMATH PRESIDENT
SHRI. RAMDAS FUTANE VICE - PRESIDENT
SHRI. RAJENDRA PATIL VICE - PRESIDENT
SMT. MINALI THAKKAR VICE - PRESIDENT
SMT. CHITRA METE VICE - PRESIDENT
PROF. ANIL NAIK CHAIRMAN
SHRI. CHANDRAJIT YADAV SECRETARY
PROF. SURENDRA JAGTAP TREASURER
SHRI. NILESH KINKALE JT. SECRETARY
PROF. NARENDRA VICHARE MEMBER
SMT. MADHAVI GANGAN MEMBER
PROF. SHRIKANT KADAM MEMBER
SHRI. GANPAT BHADKE MEMBER
SHRI. AJINKYA CHAULKAR MEMBER
SHRI. RATNADEEP ADIVREKAR CO-OPT MEMBER
SHRI. ANIL ABHANGE CO-OPT MEMBER

ABOUT BOMBAY ART SOCIETY

MASTERS
OF

INDIAN ART

13th FEBRUARY TO 29th FEBRUARY 2016
THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY COMPLEX,
BANDRA RECLAMATION, MUMBAI

THANKS
PAGE

PRESIDENTS NOTE

CURATORS NOTE

ABALAL RAHMAN LANDSCAPE OIL ON CANVAS 22x33 1901

Artists Biographies

Archibald Herman Muller ( 1878 - 1952 )

Born in Cochin, Kerela of a German father and an Indian mother, Muller joined the Madras School of Art,
where his work was highly regarded. He worked for a time in his brother's photographic studio , but by 1910
he had moved to Bombay where in 1911 he won the Bombay Art Society Award. He enjoyed the patronage
of a number of princely states, including Nawalgarh, Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur and painted many narrative
pictures, often based upon Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Raja Ravi Verma ( 1848 - 1906 )

Raja Ravi Verma was born in Kilimanoor, a small fiefdom in the princely state of Travancore (modern Kerela) in
1848 .He was educated at home , as was the tradition in aristocratic houses, and recieved his first painting
lesson from Raja Raja Verma. He was able to observe visiting Europeans at work but on the whole was self-
taught 1873 he won Governor's Gold Medal for his work which gave him instant recognition amongst the
Indian nobility and Europeans residing in India who commissioned their portraits to be painted by him. He
was the first Indian artist to apply the traditions of Western painting and drawing, such as the use of oil on
canvas, perspective and composition to Indian mythology and literature. The result of this experimen-tation
with Indian idioms in a western style resulted not in a copy of Western painting but in a new way of looking at
Indian art.

Abdur Rehman Chughtai ( 1899 - 1975 )

Chughtai was born in Lahore in pre-partition India and went to Mayo School of Art in the city. He was a
figurative painter and illustrator who was greatly influenced by Mughal miniature painting as well as the
prevailing Art Nouveau Movement in Europe at the beginning of the Century . He visited Calcutta and knew
Ababindranath Tagore and his style shares much with that of the Bengal School displaying a strong sense of
line , scale and form . Like the early Bengal School, he was also influenced by the Art of Japan. Chughtai was
a printmaker, having studied the art in London from 1932 - 1936. He illustrated a number of books from his
watercolours and drawings. After independence he became recognized as the foremost painter of Pakistan.

Savlaram Laxman Haldankar ( 1882 - 1968 )

Born in 1882 , Haldankar showed promise of being a good artist at an early age and enrolled at the Sir J.J.
School of Art , Mumbai in 1903 . There , he won almost all the prizes and started showing his work in
exhibitions in Mumbai , Madras and Simla , and also at the Royal Society of Artists in London in 1915 . He
started the Haldankar's Fine Art Institute in Mumbai in 1908 and with others founded the Art Society of India
in 1918, where he was later President. Haldankar was very accomplished in watercolour, but also used oils
and painted mostly landscapes and portraits. Examples of his work can be found in the Prince of Wales
Museum , Mumbai and at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Rabindranath Tagore ( 1861 - 1941 )

Born into the wealthy land owning Tagore family in Bengal , Rabindranath os probably best known for his
literary achievements , for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1914. Although he had received some art
training as a child, he became an artist relatively late in life and held his first exhibition at the Gallery Pigalle in
Paris in 1930 and thereafter he continued to exhibit in India and abroad . Pen and ink , crayon and
watercolour tended to be his preferred media and usually on a small scale . He travelled extensively during his
long literary career , including to much of Europe and USA . Whilst his painting career was short , he was
prolific and examples of his work are to be found in many public and private collections in India and Europe.

Artists Biographies

Archibald Herman Muller ( 1878 - 1952 )

Born in Cochin, Kerela of a German father and an Indian mother,
Muller joined the Madras School of Art, where his work was highly
regarded. He worked for a time in his brother's photographic
studio , but by 1910 he had moved to Bombay where in 1911 he
won the Bombay Art Society Award. He enjoyed the patronage of
a number of princely states, including Nawalgarh, Jaipur, Bikaner
and Jodhpur and painted many narrative pictures, often based
upon Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Raja Ravi Verma ( 1848 - 1906 )

Raja Ravi Verma was born in Kilimanoor, a small fiefdom in the
princely state of Travancore (modern Kerela) in 1848 .He was
educated at home , as was the tradition in aristocratic houses,
and recieved his first painting lesson from Raja Raja Verma. He
was able to observe visiting Europeans at work but on the whole
was self-taught 1873 he won Governor's Gold Medal for his work
which gave him instant recognition amongst the Indian nobility
and Europeans residing in India who commissioned their portraits
to be painted by him. He was the first Indian artist to apply the
traditions of Western painting and drawing, such as the use of oil
on canvas, perspective and composition to Indian mythology and
literature. The result of this experimen-tation with Indian idioms in
a western style resulted not in a copy of Western painting but in a
new way of looking at Indian art.

Abdur Rehman Chughtai ( 1899 - 1975 )

Chughtai was born in Lahore in pre-partition India and went to
Mayo School of Art in the city. He was a figurative painter and
illustrator who was greatly influenced by Mughal miniature
painting as well as the prevailing Art Nouveau Movement in
Europe at the beginning of the Century . He visited Calcutta and
knew Ababindranath Tagore and his style shares much with that
of the Bengal School displaying a strong sense of line , scale and
form . Like the early Bengal School, he was also influenced by the
Art of Japan. Chughtai was a printmaker, having studied the art in
London from 1932 - 1936. He illustrated a number of books from
his watercolours and drawings. After independence he became
recognized as the foremost painter of Pakistan.



THE BOMBAY ART SOCIETY

BANDRA RECLAMATION, MUMBAI