King’s Circle – Ram Singh & the Art of Intimate Portraiture
We spoke to Aparna Andhare, Curator of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum about Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh’s iconic portraits of the royal zenana and the man himself
Read more ...Portraits of a Pandemic
We asked photographers and artists how they interpreted the seasons of 2020 through their work to paint a portrait of an extraordinary year
Now reading: The stories every picture tells
Early Photography
Beyond the Form: Portraits in Modern Indian Art
Discovering the portraiture of four Modern artists from the Sarmaya collection — F.N. Souza, Laxma Goud, Dhruvi Acharya and Alexander Gorlizki
Read more ...People of India
“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” As the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair in the early 1900s, Edward Steichen knew what he was talking about. Portraiture is the result of a dynamic collaboration between photographer and model, both of whom colour the final frame with… Read more »
Read more ...Picture Perfect: 19th-Century Photography Techniques
Who is an Indian – Crafting Identity Through Photography
Early portraits in India were taken by foreigners and for a foreign audience. Let’s see how the genre of ethnographic photography has evolved in time
Read more ...India’s OG Influencers – The expressive portraits of 19th-century royalty
While digital influencers seek to turn online adulation into cash in the bank, our royals had plenty of the latter and were in the limelight to win hearts and minds. Here’s how they did it through their portraits
Read more ...Tholu Bommalaata – Virtual Workshop
On 14th December 2020, Sarmaya Arts Foundation conducted a Virtual Workshop on the shadow puppetry tradition of Tholu Bommalaata forNeev Academy in Bangalore. The workshop was held via zoom for a small group of drama students from the 9th grade. The students were well versed with theatre concepts and styles from around the world.… Read more »
Nature & Nurture in the Art of Pushpa Kumari
Drawing Strength – How Madhubani Artists Have Challenged Caste Oppression
Dalit and Bahujan artists always have infused creative genius into Madhubani painting and kept it relevant. As their struggle for equality rages vigorously in society at large, it flows too through the veins of this art
Read more ...Art of the Unexpected – In conversation with Santosh Kumar Das
Leaping off a firm grounding of artistic legacy, Das has created a space that feels fluid, open and wholly his own. In conversation with the Madhubani artist
Read more ...Building a Mithila Forest – Virtual Workshop
Sarmaya Arts Foundation conducted a virtual workshop with KK Academy, Lucknow on 26th October 2020. The workshop was held for an excited group of 21 participants between the ages of 6-8 years as well as a few teachers. It was an art based learning session introducing the students to Mithila or Madhubani, the beautiful indigenous… Read more »
On The Road in Madhubani
Photographer and author Chirodeep Chaudhuri curates a virtual exhibition of photographs taken during Sarmaya’s trip to Madhubani
Photographer and author Chirodeep Chaudhuri curates a virtual exhibition of photographs taken during Sarmaya’s trip to Madhubani
Read more ...Divine, Human, Feminine, Feminist – Mithila art and its women
How a matriarchal art practice emerged in response to conservatism and the patriarchy. Locating the divine as well as the human in Madhubani art
Read more ...Crossing Borders with Mithila
In this digital collaboration with the Mithila Museum in Japan, Sarmaya presents a breathtaking selection of works by the first-generation of Mithila artists to stun the global art world
Madhubani
Welcome to the historic land of Mithila, home to a beautiful art that is part-myth and part-memory. Today a town called Madhubani in Bihar houses some of the most gifted artists of this tradition. We are proud to present our second film Madhubani – Art from a Sacred Land, which travels to a tiny hamlet… Read more »
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