Retrospective exhibition at KNMA to mark birth centenary of Tyeb Mehta

The exhibition will feature paintings, drawings, sculptures, film, and archival material from some of Mehtas iconic series, including Falling Figure, Falling Bird, Mahishasura, Kali, Bull, and the Diagonal, offering a multifaceted view of his artistic language and intellectual rigor, tracing the evolution of his visual vocabulary and the recurring concerns that shaped his art.

An upcoming retrospective exhibition will mark the birth centenary of Tyeb Mehta, one of the most influential Indian modernists, at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Saket from February 4. Presented in collaboration with the Tyeb Mehta Foundation and Saffronart Foundation, and curated by KNMA's artistic director and chief curator, Roobina Karode, ''Tyeb Mehta: Bearing Weight (With the Lightness of Being)'' will aim to offer a deeper and more extensive engagement with the artists' life and practice with more than 120 works spanning his career. The exhibition will feature paintings, drawings, sculptures, film, and archival material from some of Mehta's iconic series, including ''Falling Figure'', ''Falling Bird'', ''Mahishasura'', ''Kali'', ''Bull'', and the ''Diagonal'', offering a multifaceted view of his artistic language and intellectual rigor, tracing the evolution of his visual vocabulary and the recurring concerns that shaped his art. ''Bull'', for instance, was a ''compulsive image'' for the artist beginning from his early days of drawing at Bandra Abattoir in the 1950s to the very last painting he made in 2007. ''The larger perception and dialogue on Mehta's art has been mainly focused on his iconic paintings. This exhibition foregrounds the multidimensionality of Mehta's creative process and the context of its emergence. It is also a novel extension to KNMA's longstanding commitment to reimagine the narratives of modernism in Indian and South Asian Art,'' Karode said in a statement. Born in 1925 in Kapadvanj, Gujarat, Mehta's early exposure to image-making came through his family's involvement in the film business, which sparked his lifelong fascination with visual language. Initially drawn to art direction, he went on to study at the Sir JJ School of Art, Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1947, where he discovered the transformative potential of painting, a pursuit that defined his art practice. Mehta created a large body of work as a response to the events of unrest during and after the Partition in 1947. This along with the onslaught of daily life has unfolded in various ways through the artist's career. The retrospective also presents his short film ''Koodal'', which is a deeper artistic reflection on the cycle of life and death, referring to different symbolic and everyday roles of humans, animals and the deities. Complementing this expanded view of Mehta's practice, the exhibition will also showcase a selection of rarely exhibited archival material that anchors the narrative in lived experience, including early works and studies; artist notebooks containing personal notes and writings; photographs documenting key moments with fellow artists and family; and exhibition catalogues and invitations spanning his career. ''We feel honoured and delighted to put together a comprehensive exhibition on Tyeb Mehta, one of our most significant modernists. His unique and inimitable language in painting has elegantly addressed the contradictory forces of life and arrived at a vocabulary distinctly his own, yet to be seen in its depth and breadth,'' Kiran Nadar, the founder and chairperson of KNMA, said. The exhibition will continue till June 30.

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