New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Works of post-Independence Indian and Pakistani masters will be featured in an art show titled “In Search Of The Vernacular”, opening here Thursday at the Aicon Gallery.
Featured in the exhibition are the works of M.F. Husain, Jamini Roy, Anjolie Ela Menon, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Sadequain, F.N. Souza, Jagdish Swaminathan, S.H. Raza and Laxman Goud.

Since the beginning of the 20th century Indian artists have attempted to articulate a vernacular visual language, according to gallery director Priyanka Mathew. “This has often taken the form of taking Western art as something which had to be either rejected outright, or significantly changed in order to address an Indian vernacular.”

Utilising Western Modernism but yoked to Indian subject matter was a strategy that was used by a number of artists who followed Jamini Roy, including F.N. Souza and M.F Husain, she said.

They and other artists associated with the Progressive Artists’ Group looked towards Western Modernism but attempted to make it specific to India, often foregrounding rural inhabitants of India as a way to picture the life of the nation, Mathew said.

The exhibition, she added, was an attempt to tease out some of the complex patterns of rejection, influence and echoing between artists working in India and Western Modernism and the various ways these artists attempted to articulate a vernacular visual language.