The Roots of the Indian Artists' Collectives
Grosvenor Gallery is delighted to announce its upcoming exhibition The Roots of the Indian Artists’ Collectives. The show focusses on the various groups formed by Indian artists in London during the 1960s and 70s.
The exhibition catalogue follows the various members of the Indian Painters Collective (IPC) from the establishment of the group in 1964, through to Indian Artists UK (IAUK) in 1978. Whilst the original group consisted of only 6 members, it later grew to include a number of other well-known artists from the day. The following were part of one or more group, with works by a number of these artists on display at the gallery alongside archive material:
Gahanan D. Bhagwat, Balraj Khanna, Yashwant Mali, Prafulla Mohanti, S.V. Rama Rao, Lancelot Ribeiro, Ibrahim Wagh and Mohammad Zakir.
The minutes from the meeting at which IAUK was created, the group states: “[our reasons for forming] are based on a commonly shared sense of frustration that continuously hindered its member’s efforts during their individual struggle against the barriers that exist in this truculently chauvinistic art world... We have come to believe that if the issues concerning us are tackled collectively, we have a better chance of overcoming them and thus we stand a better chance of making a positive contribution to the arts in this country.”
In organising this exhibition we have come across the work of artists we’ve not encountered before, many of whom did not have the exposure their work deserved at the time. Their experiences chime with those of many foreign artists from that period. Their story is a common one; of aesthetic unappreciation and discrimination.
We hope the exhibition will offer something of a discovery into the careers of this talented and determined group of artists.
