The Barbican in London is presenting The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998, the first exhibition of Indian contemporary art to explore and chart this period of significant cultural and political change in India. Featuring nearly 150 works of art across painting, sculpture, photography, installation and film, this landmark group show examines the ways in which 30 artists have distilled significant episodes of the late 20th century and reflected intimate moments of life during this time.
The art on show is caught between two pivotal moments in India’s history – the declaration of the State of Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and the Pokhran Nuclear Tests in 1998 – The Imaginary Institution of India aims to delve into a transformative era marked by social upheaval, economic instability, and rapid urbanisation. The exhibition takes the declaration of the Emergency in 1975 and the ensuing suspension of civil liberties as a moment of national awakening, signalling how it provoked artistic responses, directly or indirectly. It surveys the artistic production that unfolded over the next two decades or so, within the turmoil of a changing socio-political landscape. Culminating in the 1998 nuclear tests, the show illustrates how far the country moved from the ideals of non-violence, which once had been the bedrock of its campaign for independence from British colonial rule.
The shifting contexts of the 20th century in India
Unfolding loosely chronologically across both floors of the gallery, the exhibition of Indian contemporary art guides the visitor through this tumultuous time. The artists featured grapple with the shifting context of late 20th-century India; some responding directly to the national events that they were living through, while others captured everyday moments and shared experiences. All of them combined social observation with individual expression and innovation of form to make work about friendship, love, desire, family, religion, violence, caste, community and protest. This has determined the four axes that shape the exhibition: the rise of communal violence; gender and sexuality; urbanisation and shifting class structures; and a growing connection with indigenous and vernacular practices.
Bhupen Khakar (1934-2003) was renowned for his vibrant palette, unique style and bold examination of class and sexuality, Khakhar played a central role in modern Indian art but was also a key international figure in 20th-century painting. Khakhar combined popular and painterly aesthetics, absorbing diverse art-historical influences with ease, from Indian miniature and devotional iconography to 14th century Sienese painting and contemporary pop art. He evolved an engaging figurative style, part of a new wave of narrative painting and figuration that moved away from the modernist canon in vogue in Bombay and Delhi. His work is represented in this exhibition with Two Men in Benares (1982) and Grey Blanket (1988).
Another artist whose practice is not confined to painting is the painter, poet, and art critic Gulam Mohammed Sheikh (b 1937). Sheikh spearheaded an art movement which rejected the abstract and non-representation and focused on resurrecting the narrative for socially reactive figuration closely linked to the living concerns of people by creating a visual language by being open to experimentation and academic influences, referencing Indian and European art, as well as including political events to create his own narrative.
Madhvi Parekh (b 1942) is a self-taught artist from Gujarat, and the wife of the artist Manu Parekh. Art was a part of her consciousness through childhood memories, her family’s rituals such as the traditional floor designs of rangoli, popular folk stories, and simple village life. Apart from folk motifs, legends and figures, Parekh also uses imaginary characters in figurative and abstracted orientations, revealing the use of rhythm and repetition. Often, she utilises the settings of Kalamkari and Pichwai paintings where the main character of the composition sits in the centre with the minor or secondary ones filling the border
The development of Indian art history
Most of the artists are represented by multiple works, providing a fuller view of their practices and highlighting the aesthetic evolution in their oeuvres. In this way, the exhibition also traces the development of Indian art history from the predominance of figurative painting in the mid-1970s, to the emergence of video and installation art in the 1990s. Primarily wall- based art in the upper galleries will give way to installations downstairs, with works presented alongside an exhibition design inspired by the transforming urban landscape of India during the period and the shifting boundaries between the public and the private; the street and the home.
Participating artists: Pablo Bartholomew, Jyoti Bhatt, Rameshwar Broota, Sheba Chhachhi, Anita Dube, Sheela Gowda, Sunil Gupta, Safdar Hashmi, M. F. Husain, Rummana Hussain, Jitish Kallat, Bhupen Khakhar, K. P. Krishnakumar, Nalini Malani, Tyeb Mehta, Meera Mukherjee, Madhvi Parekh, Navjot Altaf, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, C. K. Rajan, N. N. Rimzon, Savindra Sawarkar, Himmat Shah, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Nilima Sheikh, Arpita Singh, Jangarh Singh Shyam, Vivan Sundaram, and J. Swaminathan.
To accompany the exhibition, the Barbican is presenting Rewriting the Rules: Pioneering Indian Cinema after 1970 (3 Oct-12 Dec) curated by Dr Omar Ahmed, writer and international curator of South Asian Cinema. This season of documentary and narrative films from the 1970s, 80s and 90s considers the emergence of the new Parallel Cinema – one of South Asia’s first post-colonial film movements. Like the trajectory traced in the exhibition, this was a time of shifting aesthetic choices whereby filmmakers rewrote the traditional rules of what constituted Indian cinema, opting for a creative hybridity and experimentation that fused together aspects of Indian art and culture with broader international styles.
Until 5 January, 2025, The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998, Barbican, London, barbican.org.uk
