The documenter Jyoti Bhattb. 1934Jyoti Bhatt has always claimed innocence about why he was included in the group, but as a young artist from MS University’s first batch of art students, he had a curious mind that enjoyed working across mediums. He was inspired by the Cubist style of his teacher, NS Bendre, and experimented with it but gave it up after a scholarship to Italy. There, he was
Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
2/5
Constructing paintingsEric Bowenb. 1929, d. 2002Born in Allahabad, Eric Bowen studied art in New Delhi and was part of Group Unknown along with Paramjit Singh before he joined Group 1890. In the year that he became a member, he was invited to study art in Italy, and so was represented at the exhibition by his works alone. His work at the time seemed to consist of construction- and archite
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3/5
Realisations in metalRaghav Kaneriab. 1936Raghav Kaneria was the only member of Group 1890 who joined as a sculptor—he had worked with junk metals in both Baroda, where he studied art at MS University, and, later, at London’s Walthamstow School of Art as well as Royal College of Art. He probably had the largest number of works on exhibit at the group’s exhibition, and was seen as a modern
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4/5
Surprising additionReddappa Naidub. 1932, d. 1999Part of the Group 1890 charter was to have artist representations from all over the country, and Reddappa Naidu seems to have been its choice as symbolic of the south, even though he hardly subscribed to their views, almost never attended meetings, and was not even present when the group members had their official photograph taken. Naidu’s
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5/5
VigilanteRajesh Mehrab. 1932Every once in a while, Rajesh Mehra, who taught at the College of Art, New Delhi, has been known to drop hints about why Group 1890 collapsed, though there is hardly any mystery about the movement petering out, even as individual artists continued along their trajectories. Mehra was co-opted as a member after his ‘Two Figures in a Deserted Garden’ received accl
