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29/3/2010

Other Masters of India

Quai Branly Museum, Paris

General Curator: Jyotindra Jain
Associated curator: Jean-Pierre Mohen

This exhibition unravels another face of India: The India of indigenous populations and folk communities, known as Adivasis. These people produce astounding creative visual art works that are as utilitarian as they are sacred and quite different from the standard renowned works from the Indian art scene. For the very first time in France, the musée du quai Branly showcases the most representative material, day-to-day, artistic and religious productions of these Indian populations in a thematic and multidisciplinary approach thereby allowing the public to discover an important but still highly unrecognized part of the contemporary popular art scene in India.

Spread over the entire territory and identified in the 1950 census, these populations keep up their artistic traditions while being in constant contact with the do minant Indian population. Equally well-known for living traditions such as dance, music and theatre that developed at the fringes of the huge Hindu communities, they still remain barely known to the Western world. For a long time, the representations of the Adivasis were full of prejudices far removed from reality, as much for the Indians as for the foreigners. The exhibition thus reveals their true face, and showcases their amazing artistic productions.

Photographs, wall paintings of the Rathava tribe from Gujarat, tribal bronze figurines from Orissa and Chattisgarh, sculptures from North-E astern India, wooden sculptures from Karnataka and from Bihar and architectural bas-reliefs crafted by the women artists from Chattisgarh will be exhibited.

The exhibition culminates with the monographs of world renowned contemporary artists, who are present at the highest rungs of the world art market: the painters Jivya Soma Mashe and Jangarh Singh Shyam, who chose to widen the field of their expression in order to depict their contemporary cultural situation in their works.

Coming from collections of the musée du quai Branly, European and Indian museums as well as private collections and specific orders from Indian artists within the framework of the exhibition, the showcased objects bear testimony to the vibrancy of the artistic traditions of these different communities, and to their evolution and their exposure to the outside world.

The exhibition "The Other Masters of India" is base d on the notion that all cultural expressions are the outcome of a process, that tradition is not a stable cultural product of the past but that it has always been fluctuating, undergoing various modifications. Moreover, its nature depends on the degree of improvisation of the "pasts that it reunites and illustrates" and on the "multi-channel exchanges that take place within the framework of politically tense situations". Owing to this, the indigenous groups of objects, both ancient and present- day ones, will be integrated in the itinerary of the exhibition so as not to be perceived in terms of binary opposition between the traditional, "authentic", and the contemporary, "perverted", but rather as "historically fluctuating" objects subjected to the local interpretation."
Jyotindra Jain, curator of the exhibition

PREAMBLE
The exhibition aims to showcase the formal continuity of the traditions of the people of India while at the same time highlighting the ambiguous nature of their relations with the India of Castes and subsequently with the national population.
The concerned populations, identified by the 1950 Constitution, are in fact at the same time "customers" of Indian artists, who produce ritual objects and figures for them, and producers of contemporary art objects that are in vogue, and are sold in tourist circuits.
The exhibition showcases t wo sets of communities, spread over the entire territory. The indigenous population of India is mainly concentrated in mountainous or heavily wooded areas widely covered with forests and highly rich in natural resources.
There are also popular traditions, which exist at the fringes of these indigenous populations and big Hindu communities. These traditions have their own highly rich and lively culture.
In reality, just as there is not just one modern India, never in India did an isolated or virginal "indigenous world" ever exist. There are as many trib al worlds, multiple and mobile, as there are simultaneous modernities, and both these worlds can only exist in changing temporal, spatial and representational contexts.

SECTION 1 - THE REPRESENTATIONS OF "ADIVASI" INDIA

This introductory section illustrates the tribal situation in India during the colonial, postcolonial and contemporary periods by showcasing texts, maps and phot ographs. It allows the exhibition to distinguish itself from the tendentious stereotypes that are usually associated with "adivasi" people and communities, by highlighting their historical dimension and their contemporary status.

Chromos, engravings and post cards rep resenting indigenous tribes and "adivasi" populations in a historical p ersp ective. Post independence photographs depict these communities being presented at the Republic Day parades and photographed with national leaders. Finally, the works of contemporary photographers Dayanita Singh and Pablo Bartholo mew are exhibited.

SECTION 2 - THE PEOPLE
In a non-linear fashion, the exhibition presents eleven macrocosms each corresponding to a different set of people; each one of these populations is characterized here by its ritualistic and artistic material productions. Right fro m the garden itself, visitors are welcomed by huge sculptures, terracota works by the Ayyanars, specially ordered by the museum fro m Indian artisans.

1. Bhuta sculptures (Karnataka)
The exhibition showcases wooden sculptures of Butha worship, in Karnataka (South India) – from the Crafts Museum of New Delhi -, as well as a collection of bronze masks, and other objects (armours) linked to this form of worship – bel onging to private collections.

2. Architectural b as-reliefs: the wo men artists of Chattisgarh
These clay sculptures, on bamboo or wooden architectural framework, present figurines; these were part of a special order for the musée du quai Branly.

3. Andaman and Nicobar (South-East India)
This sequence showcases coloured wooden sculptures, representing the myth of creation. The showcased objects belong to the musée du quai Branly and the Völkerkunde Museum of Vienna.

4. Ayyanar craft works: terra-cotta sculptures (Tamil Nadu)
These monumental terra-cotta sculptures (3 metres high), partly already discovered by the public representing horses, elephants, tigers, terrifying gods from Tamil Nadu (South India)

5. Tomb of Molela: Clay gods (Rajasthan)
Natural or coloured clay panels will be exhibited as mural compositions or as individual pieces, as they are put up in certain temples of Rajasthan.

6. Pithora: mural paintings (Western Centre of Gujarat)
The mural paintings of the Rathava tribe showcased in the exhibition are also part of a special order for the musée du quai Branly. Traditionally created on earthen walls, they are exceptionally produced on canvases. The enclosure made for presenting these paintings showcases a main painting (the myth of creation) and secondary paintings on the lateral walls (in all three panels on canvas).

7. Tribal b ronze figurines fro m the B astar area, and Kondh regions (Orissa)
The exhibition proposes the discovery of t wo groups of indigenous statuettes, cult related figurines, in b ronze, accom panied by objects from daily life belonging to the collections of the musée du quai Branly, as well as big-sized contemporary sculptures, made by various artists. This section of the exhibition also showcases cultural figurines from the Kondh (Orissa) and Gond (Chattisgarh) regions, along with other objects depicting day-to-day life.

8. Santhal: sculptures on wood and paintings (West Bengal)
Sculptures on wood (masks and musical instruments) and painted rolls – that can reach up to 7 metres of length – which relate various founding myths of the Santhal culture.

9. Waghri (Gurajat)
A 5 metre long temple textile created by the n omadic Waghri community from Gujarat has been exhibited here. Locally called Mata- ni-Pachedi (literally "from behind the goddess"), it was installed behind the deity and thus served as a temporary altar for this community that is continuously on the move.

10. Naga (North-East of India)
The mountainous villages of the Nagas are represented through exceptional works such as warriors statues made of wood, jewellery and ceremonial clothes and warrio rs’ dresses.

11. "Adivasi" paintings
The prolific works from the region of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh have made us discover excellent popular painters: the paintings were carried out in return for the government’s support, and given as "remuneration" in particular for food aid given to the indigenous populations. Among the contemporary artists showcased in this "microcosm", we find artists like Anand Shyam, Bhuri Bai, Dileep Shyam or Nankusia Shyam.

The visitors will also be able to admire 3 p articularly impressive items: A wooden 6 metres long serpent, a wooden and cloth palanquin and a Bastar tiger sculpture made of painted terra- cotta. These three sculptures co me fro m the collections of the Museum of Man of Bhopal in India.

SECTION 3 - CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

This third and last section proposes a selection in the works of two world renowned contemporary artists, and present at the highest echelon of the global art market. Jivya Soma Mashe (Warli tribe / Thane district) and Jangarh Singh Shyam (Gond people, Madhya Pradesh). Their works are showcased in a monographic fashion.

Jangarh Singh Shyam was discovered due to the painted walls of his house in the Mandla District (Madhya Pradesh), by an Indian action group from Bh opal which wished to build a collection of tribal art, in the early ‘80s. Jangarh Singh Syam was showcased in a number of exhibitions, including Other Masters at the Crafts Museum of Delhi and Les magiciens de la terre (The magicians of the earth) in 1989 in Paris. His style asserted itself in the course of time, and he experimented with serigraphs: even in these new experiments the graphic vocabulary specific to the Gond culture to which he belonged always came to the fore: an accumulation of coloured dots, the dematerialization of the subject into particles illustrating the spiritual strength of the spirits, the anthropomorphous model or inspired by the animals of the forest...

Jivya Soma Mashe was one of the first "adivasi" painters to get nation-wide recognition and subsequently international recognition. Jivya Soma Mashe hails from the Warli tribe. Mediums such as paper and canvas freed him from the constraints of working on the uneven and rough surface of walls. Jivya Soma Mashe transformed the brusque look of the ephemeral paintings into a free, frank and deeply sensitive style. His sensitivity emerges in every detail of his paintings. Strokes, lines and a mass of dots swarm and vibrate on the canvas, coming together to form clever compositions which reinforce the general impression of vibration. Recurring themes, from tribal life and Warli legends, are also a pretext for celebrating life and movement.

THE CURATORS OF THE EXHIBITION
Jyotindra JAIN is an art historian and anthropologist specialized in the popular cultures of India. He was previously direct or of the National Crafts Museum, New Delhi and is now a professor in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the author of various works including Ganga Devi: Tradition and Expression in Mithila Paintting, Other Masters: Five conte mporary Folk and Tribal artists, Kalighat Painting: Images from a Changing World. Mr. Jyotindra Jain is a recipient of the Prince Claus Award for his initiatives and activities in the field of cultural heritage. He was in particular noticed for his innovative works in museol ogy. When he was the director of the Crafts Museum of Delhi, he gave a new lease of life to the traditional arts and crafts of India, including the traditional arts and crafts forms from tribal areas. In 1998, he curated the exhibition "Other masters", which showcased five contem porary artists from indigenous India.

Jean-Pierre MOHEN holds a doctorate in Prehistory and is the General Curator for Heritage Conservation. He was the Director of the Musée des Antiquités nationales, was the Joint Director of the Musées de France, created the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France and the Unité mixte de recherche 171 of the CNRS. He is currently the Director of the Ren ovation of the musée de l’ Homme, after having worked as the Director of the heritage and collections of the musée du quai Branly.

Scientific Counsellor: Vikas HARISH is an art historian and museologist. After graduating from the University of Leicester, he taught at the Deccan College of Pune and worked with several NGOs such as WWF- India on education and communication related projects. A specialist in the history of Indian art, he curated several exhibitions including Bronze Treasures of the National Muse um at the National Museum of New Delhi in 1998 or Crossing Currents: video art and cultural ide ntities, at the Lalit Kala Academy of New Delhi in 2004 and worked as a museologist and coordinator of the Picasso exhibition: Métamorphoses 1900-1972 in 2001 at the National Museum of New Delhi. He represents India at the Executive Council of the Common wealth Museums Association

The exhibition "Other Masters of India" is acco mpanied by a catalogue co-edited by Somogy ( 160 pages) and a special issue published by Beaux Arts Magazine (52 pages - 8€)

Press contact
Pierre Laporte Communication tel: 33 (0)1 45231414 info@pierre-laporte.com

Nathalie Mercier, director for communication musée du quai Branly
tel: 33 (0)1 56617020 nathalie.mercier@quaibranly.fr

Magalie Vernet, Person in charge of media relations
tel: 33 (0)1 56615287 magalie.vernet@quaibranly.fr

Musée du Quai Branly
Entrance to the museum is at 206 and 218 rue de l'Université or at 51 quai Branly, Paris 7e.
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