VMH & DAG Museums
An Inheritance of Imaginations
07 Aug 2020 – 06 Sep 2020
Enchanting worlds of fables, myths and stories come together in ‘The Inheritance of Imaginations,’ an exhibition of the works of three siblings of the Tagore family - Abanindranath, Gaganendranath and Sunayani Devi.
At the turn of the twentieth century, artists and educationists in Bengal began to consider viable alternatives to colonial education that would be rooted in syncretic cultural traditions. Abanindranath’s dream of a pan-Asian artistic identity found expression in his delightful retellings of stories from around the world, while Gaganendranath’s eclectic imagination transported viewers to liminal worlds of tales, familiar and unfamiliar. Yet, their art never lacked a lighter touch, as when they satirized through caricatures the mindless mimicking of Western cultures. Sunayani Devi, their sister, sought inspiration in stories and images passed down through generations, describing them in her paintings with languid lines and an ethereal wash. Taken together, their works seem as relevant today as when they were painted. We lose ourselves amid a flurry of colours, otherworldly forms and words, taking heart from the fact that even by breaking conventional rules of learning - none of them received academic training in art - the stories they passed down reoriented our shared legacy of images, identities and imaginations.
No artwork displayed is for sale.
Artworks that appear in the virtual exhibition may not be to scale.
