Located on the first floor of Churchill Chambers, a 95 year old heritage building located in the bylanes behind the Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India promenade, Akara Art Gallery has been host to some of the city’s most captivating exhibitions for the past ten years. Initiated by Puneet Shah the gallery focuses on Indian modern and contemporary art. To celebrate a decade since it opened an invigorating line-up of ten showcases was conceived, the latest of which honours the pioneer of contemporary Indian sculpture; Prodosh Dasgupta.

‘In Quest of Form and Content’ is a selection of 18 bronze sculptures by the revered artist who’s primary motives included the development of a language for the expression of content that was relevant to both the indigenous culture and its contextual articulation. Dasgupta’s work is rooted in an exploration of universal themes and is complemented by his proficiency in the visual culture of South East Asia.

Initially pursuing a career in music, he journeyed from Dhaka to Kolkata and then to Lucknow’s College of Arts and Crafts where he hoped the city’s rich tradition of classical music would help him get acquainted with some from the plethora of composers that it had bred. However, it was at The College of Fine Arts in Madras where, in a melting pot of artistic sensibilities, where he first studied sculpture. After this came stints at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, followed by the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, where he truly mastered the medium before returning to be a freelance sculptor in post-independent India.

Having developed an affinity to introspect with the intention of discovery and synthesise these experiences in his creations, Dasgupta went on to found the ‘Calcutta Group’— a collective that included the likes of Paritosh Sen, Gopal Ghosh and Rathin Mitra along with his wife Kamla Das Gupta (also an artist)—in what was one of the first attempts to revolutionise the modernist ethos in our country.

In an essay by Prof. (Dr.) Rajeev Lochan, Former Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, he states “Dasgupta had a special affinity to the egg-like form which was for him a synthesis of the philosophical as well as the intellectual. The embryonic form represented the essence of the universe along with the elements of the microcosm. This approach to representation provided him the freedom to abstract the elements of nature and create a unique analogy that bound universality on one side and the organic on the other. The handling of the medium moulded the material with a palpable sensuality representative of cosmic energy with a sense of the essential.”

This exhibition, curated with help from the artist’s grandson, perfectly illustrates the sense of rhythm, form and vitality of Prodosh Dasgupta’s work.

Akara Art Gallery’s ten exhibition showcase kicked off with a retrospective of Amrita Sher-Gil titled ‘Perhaps it will fly away if I get up’ followed by FN Souza’s ‘Luminous Solitude’, MF Husain and SH Raza’s ‘Divergent Confluences and upcoming artist Utkarsh Makwana’s ‘The Wonder Journal.’
(Photographs from these exhibitions are also featured above)

Prodosh Dasgupta’s In Quest of Form and Content will be on display till 26th October