Indian Vintage Dark Horse

Sunil Das was a Master Modern Indian Artist from Bengal. He joined Government College of Arts & Craft, Calcutta, 1954–59. Extremely successful right from his college days, Das has been extremely well lauded by art critics, the press, artists and the art and culture glitterati across the world. Das was the youngest artist to have won the National Award, "The Taj Shiromani Kala Puraskar" recipient of the much-coveted Government of India's 4th Highest Civilian Award, "The Padma Shree" (2014). Highly talented Das has done shows all across the world, got fame as early as while he was still in college, the youngest recipient of the "Lalit Kala Academy Awards" and received a scholarship to study at L’Ecole Nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris in 1961–63. "There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun" - Pablo Picasso. Das was exactly one such artist. Das' style of work is very original and shows no specific influence. He had risen to fame like MF Hussain with his famous paintings of horses, to the extent that he was nicknamed 'Ghora Das' ( Hindi which means Horse Das) Like Hussain, Das was inspired by the force and strength of the moving horse. The horses and the bull ( inspired from his visit to Spain and witnessing the Bull Fighting ) have appeared more than 7000 times in Das’s works. Das has otherwise painted haunting pictures of women thereby revealing the dark side of people who are otherwise considered beautiful. His works on the Red Light of Kolkata was also much-lauded and brings about an important social message through his works. Das's main mediums could easily be oil on canvas. His stimulating and stirring works in Mixed Media, Conte, Charcoal, Serigraphy, Wood Works and Sculptures. Whatever medium Das worked on, he effortlessly mastered. Not one to be stuck to one style, Das experimented and worked on various series and mediums. His works involve the quick use of the brush and pen to create masterpieces that have a dynamic effect, potent with power.

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

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