‘reimagine’ is an ongoing Instagram-exclusive series through which we make connections across the Sarmaya collection and examine the extent to which our ways of seeing — and an object’s own meaning — are informed by time, space, and context
Discovering the portraiture of four Modern artists from the Sarmaya collection — F.N. Souza, Laxma Goud, Dhruvi Acharya and Alexander Gorlizki
In this painting FN Souza does what he did best: reveal the grotesquerie and unintentional comedy of sex. The faces of each of the four nude figures in this frame have been disfigured, what features remain are exaggerated and made absurd. There is a focus on separating the two genders and observing their interaction in… Read more »
Using works from our modern and contemporary art collection, we decipher terms used very often by critics and art insiders
Figure of a woman masturbating on a decorated surface. Souza believed that art offered the only respite for man, who would die of boredom in the absence of it. His works betray this sentiment; every piece of his artistic repertoire is charged with his lived moments, every piece portrays an overflowing passion. Brought up in… Read more »
From Ara to Souza and from infatuation to disillusionment, we examine the nudes in our collection of modern Indian art
While a new nation was finding its feet in 1947, a small group of artists was formulating its visual language. Meet the Bombay Progressives in the Sarmaya collection
Souza brings a touch of the unexpected, even a note of the odd, to the table in this rendition of the Supper at Emmaus, where a resurrected Jesus reveals himself to two of his followers. The disciples faces are disfigured in a way that references the artist’s cubist tendencies. FN Souza believed that art offered… Read more »
This image shows a townscape interspersed with buildings and trees. The primary colours here are yellow, green, black and ash – while the signature ‘Souza-esque’ style of blunt, cruel humour is lent by the powerful strokes of green and yellow, fierce lines and bold swaths of ash. Souza believed that art offered the only respite… Read more »