In the late 19th and early 20th century, as the Revivalist Movement took hold of Bengal in response to British academic dominance, Bombay artists were producing work that was highly academic in its rendering and techniques, with a focus on indigenous subjects. Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar (1867 - 1944) was foremost among them, maintaining a fine balance between academic realism and popular commercial art, inspired by Raja Ravi Varma. The artist – best known for his illustrative series on subjects like the city of Bombay and its people, Women of India, scenes from Hindu mythology and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – was a significant contributor to the early Indian art scene. Apart from being a notable painter working in multiple mediums, Dhurandhar was also a formidable arts educator and administrator, serving as the first Indian Director of the Sir J.J. School of Art from 1930. In his later years, he also took to writing about the work of his contemporaries in a series of articles titled ‘Maze Samakalin Chitrakar' (My Contemporary Artists) featuring artists such as Manchershaw F. Pithawalla, Sawlaram L. Haldankar and Dwarkanath Mahatre. 

Join us for a conversation with Suhas Bahulkar, Artist and Curator; Manisha Patil, Professor of Art History at Sir. J. J. School of Art and Shukla Sawant, Professor of Visual Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, moderated by Abhay Sardesai, Editor, ART India, about M.V. Dhruandhar’s vast body of work, complex relationship with the British and contributions to the early Indian art scene.

The discussion will be preceded by a curator’s walkthrough by Suhas Bahulkar of M.V. Dhurandhar: The Romantic Realist, the retrospective exhibition of the artists’ work currently on view at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, which traverses the full extent of Dhurandhar’s career, including rare archival materials like sketchbooks, photographs and other ephemera.

Suhas Bahulkar graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art, where he also taught till 1995. An accomplished artist, Bahulkar has exhibited in India and internationally, and his works can be found at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, the Supreme Court of India and the Reserve Bank of India among other public and private institutions. He was recently awarded a fellowship by The Asiatic Society, Mumbai and a D.Litt by the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune. He has curated two exhibitions at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, where he is presently Chairperson of the Advisory Committee.

Dr. Manisha Patil is an art historian, painter and Professor of Art History at Sir. J. J. School of Art, Mumbai. She has contributed regularly to several art publications such as Art News and Views, Art Journal, Chinha, Sesquicentennial catalogue of J.J. School of Art and Shilpakar Charitrakosh. Patil has initiated the conservation of the J.J. School of Art collection of paintings. She is the curator of an exhibition of the works of Vinayak Masoji at the CSMVS, Mumbai, and Rethinking the Regional at the NGMA, Mumbai.

Dr. Shukla Sawant is a visual artist and Professor of Visual Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi. Her PhD was titled Imaging Land Imagining Landscape, and her research interests include art in colonial India, modern and contemporary art, photography, printmaking and new media. Shukla has had ten solo shows, published various catalogue essays and contributed chapters in books on contemporary Indian art. A founding member of the Indian Printmakers’ Guild, she was a working group member of Khoj International Artists’ Association between 1998 and 2005.

Abhay Sardesai has been the Editor of ART India since November 2002. He has been a Visiting Faculty in Aesthetics at the Department of English, University of Mumbai, and has also been the Chair of Humanities, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai. He teaches at the Smt. P. N. Doshi Women’s College of Arts and also at various other institutions like Jnanapravaha and TISS. An associate of the research collective PUKAR, he was Director of Writing Across the City which explored the inter-relationships between literatures and literary cultures in the city of Mumbai.

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