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It is unfortunate that an event of importance in the development of modern Indian art has slipped from our memory. The centenary of the Indian Society of Oriental Art founded in December 1907 passed away silently though it deserved a formal celebration and a looking back into history. There was a time when even the educated Indians believed that there was nothing in the country that could merit as fine arts. The serene visage of the Gupta Buddha was likened to that of suet pudding and we were taught not to expect to find anything in this vast country that could aesthetically appeal to the mind or evoke deep feeling. While the arts of the past had been set aside as monsterous creations, contemporary visual art endeavours were equally ignored. The new generation Indian artists that emerged during the early years of the twentieth century needed a forum to interface the world at large as well as to ensure their place in the time-space context. To combat the situation, the Tagore artists, Gaganendranath and Abanindranath envisaged the Indian Society of Oriental Art as a forum for the new generation artists in view to sustain E.B.Havell's appreciatory essay on contemporary Indian art in London's Studio magazine that was applanded as a revelation by the European artist community. Havell's was a single-man crusade in favour of Indian art whose cudgel was taken up by Ananda Coomaraswamy. Coomaraswamy was of all help to the Society whose powerful writings vindicated the unfavourable comments on Indian art made by George Birdwood, Robert Baden Powell, John Ruskin, Vincent Smith, John Irwin and company.
The society's annual exhibitions since early January 1908 became one of the most glitzy cultural events of the time. Artists from Asian countries including Japan and China participated in the exhibitions. Besides contemporary painting and sculpture, collections of ancient and mediaeval Indian and Asian arts were also showcased as treasures of the rich legacy of the East. The second annual was held in Shimla and the fourth in Allahabad. The seventh annual in 1914 was held in Europe. This exhibition opened in the galleries of the Grand Palace of Paris was christened by the critics as Ecole de Calcutta who likened Abanindranath's gentle mistiness with those of Eugene Carrier's. Under the aegis of the Society, contemporary Indian art was shown in Europe for the first time during the heyday of Cubism and Futurism. The annual of the Society became a touring event and the local enthusiasts hosted the shows in Lahore, Madras and other cities. In 1922 the exhibition was held in Berlin, and in exchange, the host country sent an exhibition of the Bauhaus artists to Calcutta. Till then, the names of Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and other German moderns who participated in the Calcutta-show, were not known beyond the frontiers of Germany. It was the first show of the Bauhaus abroad arranged in the galleries of the Society at the Samavay Mansion on Corporation Street. Thus the Society had gone global much before the advent of the Lalit Kala Akademy. The forays the Society made into the fields of visual arts that put contemporary Indian to the global context, hosted exhibitions from Germany, Japan and China, set a standard in publication on art and created a forum for the moderns of the day, remained unsung during its centenary year. Lalit Kala Akademy established in 1954 failed to come up to the expectations and has no role to play in the current gallerycentric art environment.
It is heartening to learn that the ensuing GenNext 2008 has gone global. Artists from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Italy, Jamaica, Brazil, Poland, France, Austria & USA sharing the exhibition space with the Indian new generation artists. Thus by opening up its frontiers to the world, this GenNext will be replaying history in the context of the Society's centenary year. Gallery Aakriti will be following the footsteps of the Tagores of Calcutta who did not believe in geographical segmentation of art.
I give Aakriti a big hand in its new endeavour.
--Professor Sovon Som , D.Lit
Kolkata
September 17, 2008
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