Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
Group 1890 was a brilliant, if brief, movement in India’s art history
Curated By: Kishore Singh
All fired up
Himmat Shah
b. 1933
Himmat Shah was still experimenting with materials when he became a member. Even though he had chosen clay as his medium while studying at MS University, Baroda, his outing at the group’s exhibition was a series of burnt paper collages consisting of sheets of paper scarred by a cigarette, held together with glue, paint and fragments of printed paper. It so captivated Paz that he recommended him for a scholarship to Atelier 17 in Paris to learn printmaking. Shah went on to make a few prints, but his strength at the time—like Jeram Patel’s—was drawing, and a recent retrospective highlighted his agility and absorption with the medium. Eventually, he turned to his first love, sculpture, and is today known as a sculptor of international repute. He works with clay that he has treated, often for decades, before turning it into his primitivist Heads and other sculptures, including bottles and found objects.
Untitled Graphite, pastel, enamel and burn marks on paper pasted on paper 1962
Himmat Shah
b. 1933
Himmat Shah was still experimenting with materials when he became a member. Even though he had chosen clay as his medium while studying at MS University, Baroda, his outing at the group’s exhibition was a series of burnt paper collages consisting of sheets of paper scarred by a cigarette, held together with glue, paint and fragments of printed paper. It so captivated Paz that he recommended him for a scholarship to Atelier 17 in Paris to learn printmaking. Shah went on to make a few prints, but his strength at the time—like Jeram Patel’s—was drawing, and a recent retrospective highlighted his agility and absorption with the medium. Eventually, he turned to his first love, sculpture, and is today known as a sculptor of international repute. He works with clay that he has treated, often for decades, before turning it into his primitivist Heads and other sculptures, including bottles and found objects.
Untitled Graphite, pastel, enamel and burn marks on paper pasted on paper 1962
