Group 1890

A new show at the DAG Modern brings together works of 10 of the 12 artists who were part of a Sixties collective known as the Group 1890, a front that was set up in response, and opposition, to the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, writes Bhumika Popli..--

The exhibition, titled India's Indigenous Modernism, brings 10 of the 12 artists belonging to the storied "Group 1890" ... This set of artists, and their works, were last seen on a common platform as far back as 1963. The current exhibition rehashes and re-presents that significant event, which can be traced back to the golden decade - the Sixties - of Indian modernism. Group 1890 was formed, according to its manifesto, through a meeting which was held on 25-26 August, 1962 in Bhaavnagar, Gujarat. It derives its name simply from the venue of that meeting: 1890 was the number of the house that belonged to Jyoti and Jayant Pandya, who hosted the momentous meeting. Influential on many fronts to other emerging artists, the group comprised some of the founding fathers of Indian modernism. Its members included Gulammohammed Sheikh, Jeram Patel, Himmat Shah, Jyoti Bhatt, Ambadas, Eric Bowen, Raghav Kaneria, Reddappa Naidu and Rajesh Mehra. Ten artists from this collective are part of the present show. The two who are missing are S.G. Nigam and Balkrishna Patel - since their works are not available in the public domain, they couldn't be acquired by the gallery.--