By Suman Tarafdar

The years 1857 and 1947 are two hugely significant landmarks in the history of modern India. The period within was one of fervent movement, as multiple trends, often contradictory, even hostile, shaped the sub-continent. Wars, famine, infrastructure building, reform and anti-reform movements, transformations in agriculture and trade, myriad cultural expressions – all went along simultaneously alongside a clamour for independence in these nine odd decades.

India’s leading gallery, DAG, captures this period in a new exhibition, Destination India: Foreign Artists in India 1857-1947, curated by Giles Tillotson, Senior VP, DAG, at its Delhi outpost – incidentally, through the eyes of non-Indian, largely European, artists, who visited and captured the various facets of the country through their paintings; artists, who continued the tradition from the previous century of capturing what they saw on their canvases, even as they put their own stamp to the gazes.

“The present exhibition breaks new ground by focussing for the first time on this later period of foreign painting in India,” says Tillotson. “And, it adds an Indian chapter to the larger story of Orientalist painting”.

“When considering British and other European representations of India, the focus is often on the pioneers,” adds Ashish Anand, CEO & MD, DAG. “The problem with this traditional trajectory is that it overlooks the many interesting artists who visited India – from England and from other European countries – in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were conventional artists working in oil and watercolour and various print media, like the earlier pioneers. They came to India with a different aesthetic sensibility and with different interests. In their works, we find an India – if we can put it this way – that we do not just see, but that we can hear and smell.”

This exhibition has works from about 40 artists, including Edward Lear, William Simpson, George Strahan, Edwin Lord Weeks, Olinto Ghilardi, Walter Crane, Marius Bauer, Erich Kips and even Japanese printmaker Hiroshi Yoshida. They do not just capture the ghats of Benaras but also a portrait of Bukht Singh, Rao of Baidla near Udaipur (both by William Carpenter) or Jumma Masjid and The Brindjarries or Jain Priests (all Simpson). Strahan depicted monumental landscapes while Ghilardi did intimate portraits. Mortimer Mempes captured The Corner of a Fruit Market ca 1903, while Charles Bartlett’s woodblock prints capture a range of Silk Merchants to Taj Mahal to Golden Temple and much more.