The Flamed-Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting

The Flamed-Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting is a seminal study on the aesthetics and history of Indian contemporary painting, which unites the visual and the verbal to provide a total overview of the subject. It covers over one hundred years of the history and explains the unique unifying aesthetic force through which art reflects contemporary life. The author delves into history as an interconnected flow of various styles and movements: inspired from the western academic norms of Raja Ravi Varma, to the indigenous and Asian-inspired art of the Bengal School; from Rabindranath Tagore’s subconscious imagery, to that of Ramkinker Vaij, reflecting the daily visual forms of nature; from the art of Amrita Sher-Gil and F.N. Souza, inspired by European modernism, to that of K.C.S. Paniker seeking a deeper link with traditional crafts and philosophy; from the socially responsible art of Somnath Hore, Vivan Sundaram, Sudhir Patwardhan, and others, to the work of V.S. Gaitonde, Ramkumar, Jeram Patel and Rameshwar Broota, grounded in introspection; to the unique aesthetic of M.F. Husain and K.G. Subramanyan who differently reveal the folk-tribal-urban continuum and its universality. This first comprehensive study of Indian contemporary painting includes conversations with some of the greatest Indian artists of our time such as Prabhakar Barwe, Jogen Chowdhury, Satish Gujral, M.F. Husain, Bhupen Khakhar, Krishen Khanna, Gieve Patel, Ganesh Pyne, G.m. Sheikh, J. Swaminathan and others.