Celebration 2007

The present show entitled Celebration is the sixth group show at Kumar Gallery in a decade. The first, in October 1996, Modern Indian Painting - One Hundred Years, reflected on the trend in Modern Indian Art with works by Raja Ravi Varma, the three Tagores, Heman Mazumdar, Chugtai, and masters of the post-Independence era —Bendre, Souza, Husain and others. In December 1997, Six Modern Masters aimed at showing some of the masters of the Indian contemporary art associated with Kumar Gallery since 1950's and 60's. Selected works of Souza, Husain, Tyeb Mehta, Satish Gujral, Ram Kumar and Krishen Khanna were included.

The third group show, in October 2004, Spirit of a Century, highlighted the aesthetic point of view in Modern Indian Art. It included works from old Masters to the artists of the present generation. The fourth, Drawings by 24 Masters of Indian Contemporary Art, was held in February 2005 to illustrate the expression of structure and force behind the work of important artists of the 20th century.

Kumar Gallery's historic Golden Jubilee commemoration culminated with an exhibition entitled Spirit Set Free held during November and December 2005.

Celebration, on the eve of the 58th Republic Day of India, brings together a selection based on aesthetic merit and includes important works by Souza, Kulkarni, Husain, Gujral, Ram Kumar, along with G.R. Santosh, A. Ramachandran, Sakti Burman among others, and further continues with Jatin Das, Shamshad Husain, Shobha Broota, Arpana Caur, Paresh Maity, Sangeeta Gupta, Ashok Bhowmick and Laila Khan Rajpal, to name a few. It is my sincere endeavour to bring forth to the already growing interest of the people in the modern art of India, a discerning perspective towards the aesthetic merit of art.

- Sunit Kumar, 15th January 2007