Asia Society Museum, New York, is hosting a landmark exhibition, which opened on September 14, exploring modernism in India in the years following independence. The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India spotlights seminal artworks by members of the Progressive Artists’ Group. It explores how its artists—from different social, cultural, and religious backgrounds—found common cause at a time of dramatic upheaval.
The exhibition comprises over 80 spectacular artworks, primarily oil paintings from the 1940s to 1990s. Represented are the Group’s core founders—K. H. Ara, S. K. Bakre, H. A. Gade, M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, and F. N. Souza—as well as later members and those closely affiliated with the movement: V. S. Gaitonde, Krishen Khanna, Ram Kumar, Tyeb Mehta, Akbar Padamsee, and Mohan Samant.
The exhibition is organised by guest curator Dr. Zehra Jumabhoy, Associate Lecturer, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London and Boon Hui Tan, Vice President for Global Arts and Cultural Programs and Director of Asia Society Museum in New York. They comment here on key works in the exhibition.