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 fascinated by the adaptability of adhesives and worked with sand, Plaster of Paris and oil to lend texture to his canvases. However, he renounced that too in favour of paper collages, printmaking and photography. Following the group’s exhibition, Bhatt left for the US on a fellowship to study graphics and printmaking, but remained aligned to its ideology. His photographs of the group are an important part of its archive.Islands (Isole) Oil and Plaster of Paris on canvas 1963 Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
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 architecture-inspired geometric paintings consisting of lines and spaces in two- and three-dimension, relief-like ‘constructions’. Though he did return to India briefly, he soon settled in Norway with his wife. His style also changed in the later years, becoming more tantra-inspired, and though his passion for spaces and grids could still be seen, the metaphysical seemed to have replaced his tryst with the spatial.Untitled Acrylic and Plaster of Paris on canvas 1966 Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
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 modernist in spirit at a time when a lot of work in the medium was considered sentimental. He would weld metal sheets to create abstract forms that seemed to suggest vegetation or animal forms, and if the works from that first catalogue are any indication, he was true to his belief. Though he may not have been part of the group’s meeting where the manifesto was written, he subscribed to its views. He taught in both England and India, and is now most identified for his iconic Bulls series.Cactus Iron cast on wood pedestal c. 1960s Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
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 choice of practice—mostly mythology—seemed unlikely to align with the group’s view of an indigenous modernism that was abstract but also progressive. Not that Naidu was not outspoken, claiming he owed nothing to ‘the masters of the past or the present, of the East or the West’, but his work did not really fit into the group’s philosophy of the image being the prime reason for their practice, with no context or subtext or, indeed, moral ascribed to it. Naidu mostly stayed away, a silent member of the group who is now only remembered as part of its history.Untitled Oil on cardboard pasted on Masonite board 1962 Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
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 acclaim and was acquired by the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. His works at the group’s exhibition too consisted of personal landscapes. Though he more or less stopped painting by the ’80s, he continues to remain a storehouse of information on the group, and has archival material that has helped scholars study and analyse the movement and its importance.Writing on the Wall Water colour on paper-1 1964 Collection: The artist Image by Courtesy: DAG Modern Archives
