DIGITAL COPY ON MAGZTERBartholomew were keenly read and discussed;
their columns often sparked spirited discussions
among the art fraternity.
‘There was informed comment. A column
mention by these people, who were well
regarded for their knowledge and erudition,
could well make or break an artist,’ recalls
Paramjit. Paramjit himself founded a seven-
and then a nine-painter group called ‘The
Unknowns’, which included apart from him
and Arpita, painters RK Dhawan, OP Sharma,
J Swaminathan, Amal Paul, RK Bhatnagar,
Dinkar Kaushik, Eric Bowen among others, and
they organised four landmark exhibitions before
disbanding. J. Swaminathan, freshly back from
a Polish sojourn, Tyeb Mehta who relocated to
Delhi from Bombay, Krishen Khanna who also
came to strike roots in Delhi, Ramachandran
from Shantiniketan, GR Santosh, Gaitonde,
Hussain, and the occasional Mumbai visitor
like Akbar Padamsee contributed hugely to
the growth and artistic ferment of the Delhi
art scene. Delhi it was where, suddenly, after
a ten-year absence which was spent honing
skills in London, the incredibly original
Manjit Bawa, showed his first dazzling screen-
painted, luminescent, glowing canvases of
otherworldly creatures that reinterpreted the
Basholi colourscapes and the Indian miniature
tradition like never before. ‘It was in a newly
founded Haryana Tourism-sponsored gallery
called Black Partridge,’ recalls Paramjit. The
exhibition generated a frisson of excitement
and enthusiastic comment from art critic Geeta
Kapur.
The quirky, vehemently original Bhupen
Khakhar first showed in the Kunika Chemould
Gallery in the charming old Cottage Industries
complex at Janpath that was famously helmed
by Richard Bartholomew before Roshan Alkazi
took it over. ‘His invite was designed like a
wedding card,’ laughs Paramjit. At a time
when all painters like to flaunt their ‘foreign’
sojourns/residencies/travels/shows/influences,
his catalogue had him saying famously that ‘he’d
never been to even Afghanistan!’Archival Photos of
Dhoomimal Art Centre(^42) / arts illustrated / feb 2016 - mar 2016 /IAF - Delhi Connecting Art