ILLUSTRATED PANEL DISCUSSION
MURALS OF K G SUBRAMANYAN: EVOLVING ARTISTIC IDIOMS & THE PRESERVATION CHALLENGES AHEAD
Murals of K G Subramanyan: Evolving Artistic Idioms & The Preservation Challenges Ahead
Speakers: Prof R Siva Kumar, Prof Dilip Mitra & Shri Amit Danda
Moderated by Shreyan Banerjee
Date: 𝟭𝟰 𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗘, 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆
Time: 6 – 7 PM
Venue: First Floor, Amphitheatre
Gain insights from K.G. Subramanyan's apprentices and associates—renowned art historians, pedagogues, and visual artists—on the enduring significance of his murals. This panel will explore the possibilities and challenges of their conservation, featuring art historical insights by Prof. R. Siva Kumar, archival images and anecdotes from Prof Dilip Mitra’s apprenticeship and Shri Amit Danda's thirty-year collaboration with Subramanyan.
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Details:
Emami Art, in collaboration with KCC - Conservation Lab, is excited to present an in-depth panel discussion highlighting the conceptual significance, material use and the challenges of preserving K.G. Subramanyan’s murals.
Prof. R. Siva Kumar will initiate the session with a prefatory note on KG Subramanyan’s murals, drawing from his lifelong scholarship around Santiniketan: Making of Contextual Modernism. Enriched with excerpts from his conversations with the artist, this introduction will offer an intimate and scholarly foundation for the discussions to follow.
Prof. Dilip Mitra and Shri Amit Danda will then provide an illustrated presentation featuring their photographic documentation of Subramanyan’s work on the Black-and-white (Textile Department) and Ceramic (Mastermoshai Studio) Murals in the early 2000s. These images reveal various stages of Subramanyan’s mural-making process, showcasing his meticulous material handling and quintessentially effortless KGS’ artistic methods. Also, Danda, who had a long-standing association with Subramanyan, will share his personal experiences and reflections into the artist’s everyday practices, adding a human dimension to the discussion.
KCC Conservation Lab’s Senior Conservator, Shreyan Banerjee session shall moderate the panel.
Key Topics of Discussion:
- Conceptual and Philosophical Approach: The panel will delve into Subramanyan’s thoughtful selection of materials, emphasizing their stability and sustainability, which were central to his creative spirit.
- Preservation Concerns: Despite Subramanyan’s meticulous material choices, natural decay poses significant preservation challenges. The panel will explore whether Subramanyan anticipated the impermanence of his works and discuss his views on the preservation of his art.
- Future Preservation Measures: Addressing contemporary perspectives on the murals, the panel will propose feasible preservation measures and the challenges to attempt them.
Join us for an engaging discussion that not only celebrates K.G. Subramanyan’s artistic achievements but also addresses the critical issues surrounding the preservation of his invaluable murals for future generations.
About the Speakers
Prof R. Siva Kumar is an Indian contemporary art historian, educator, critic, and curator. His primary research has been in early Indian modernism, focusing on the Santiniketan School. He has written several influential books, lectured widely on modern Indian art, and contributed articles to prestigious international projects such as the Art Journal, Grove Art Online, The Dictionary of Art, and Oxford University Press.
He was awarded the Kesari Puraskaram for art writing by the Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala 2010. He has also curated major exhibitions like Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism, The Last Harvest: Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore and retrospectives of Indian artists, such as Rabindranath Tagore, Benode Behari Mukherjee and K. G. Subramanyan. He is the recipient of the Raza Fellowship (2017) for his book on the biography of K G Subramanyan, an Indian painter.
Siva Kumar currently lives and works in Santiniketan, India.
Prof Dilip Mitra, an alumnus of the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata and Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan has been featured in more than thirty national and International shows including shows at Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara, Academy of Fine Arts, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Sanskriti Art Gallery, Calcutta, Jahangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Jeju contemporary Art museum, South Korea. Besides participating in and facilitating many art workshops on Serigraphy, Painting and Murals - Mitra has extensive experience executing murals in diverse mediums like ceramic, tempera, and oil.
Apart from spearheading multiple ceramic, oil, and tempera murals, Mitra has contributed significantly to mural projects led by stalwart artists such as K G Subramanyan and Ganesh Haloi.
Mitra is currently a professor at the Department of Painting, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan.
Shri Amit Danda is an alumnus of the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, and Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan.
Between 1987 and 1989, he served as an artist at the regional center of Lalit Kala Academy in Calcutta. Noteworthy accolades include the East India Photographic Traders Association (IEPTA) award in 1978 and the Oriental Art Society Award for three consecutive years (1982-1985). Additionally, Danda received the Junior Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) twice, in 1992 and 1996. His tenure as the Deputy Curator at Nandan (Museum), Visva Bharati, spanned from 2003 to 2021.
Having closely assisted K G Subramanyan for over twenty-five years at Santiniketan, Danda has significantly contributed to the education and scholarship of visual arts students in the region. Currently, Danda lives and practices in Santiniketan, India.
KCC Conservation Lab was established as a not-for-profit facility at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity in 2018 to provide services for conserving and restoring historic and artistic works.
KCCCL offers consultancy in collection care, preventive conservation, storage, mounting, framing, display, packing and transporting artworks. Through workshops and training programs, the lab constantly works on building capacity in heritage conservation, primarily in the eastern region of India.
The facility addresses the conservation needs of oil paintings, acrylics, mixed media, manuscripts, illustrated miniature paintings, paintings on cloth, wood, metal sculptures, textiles and carpets, stone and photographs. The Lab is housed on the Third Floor of Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC), Kolkata.