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
Published: Oct 8, 2016
Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890

Image by : DAG Modern Archives

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  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
  • Indian art: The lasting strokes of Group 1890
Extreme abstractionist
Ambadas
b. 1922, d. 2012


A student of Mumbai’s Sir JJ School of Art, Ambadas—the only Dalit in Group 1890’s members—often accused the Marxist Swaminathan for his Brahmanical views, but the two remained staunch friends. He was trained in the academic style, but Ambadas chose abstraction early in his career, and thereafter did not change his style or technique of using turpentine and varnish with oil paint to create distinctive brushstrokes in his works. Following the group’s exhibition, Ambadas’s abstract expressionism caught the attention of American art critic Clement Greenberg, who was in India to select works for a major exhibition of Indian artists. The exhibition did not materialise, but Greenberg arranged for Ambadas to tour America’s art centres and interact with major abstractionists and their work. He later married and settled in Oslo, Norway, in 1972.

Untitled Oil on canvas 1968