3. At the “young” age of 90, Krishen Khanna is one
of the stalwarts of Modern Indian Art. A Far
Afternoon 2015 is one of his attempts at creating
a work on large scale.
At 90 years of age he painted – a 22
foot long masterpiece
4. A Far Afternoon, has been painted over a period of nearly 9 months and is 22 feet long. The
painting is constructed in five panels that flow into each other. The theme of the painting is of a
wedding party in procession in a mid-summer wedding.
The Indian Yellow spreads like a shimmering blanket.
8. A Far Afternoon Exhibited at
Piramal Art Foundation, Mumbai
Smriti- a book on art history by Ashvin Rajgopalan and
Vaishnavi Ramanthan of the paintings in the Piramal Art
Foundation collection.
9. Artists Raza and Anjolie Ela Menon view the painting-
Far Afternoon at the Delhi Art Fair 2015
10. Krishen Khanna (1925 - ) is an Indian artist born in Faislabad, Pakistan. in pre partition India in
1925, Krishen Khanna moved to Shimla during the partition. He attended Imperial Service College
in England. He is recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990, and the
Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Krishen was inducted into the
Progressive Artists` Group by
M.F. Husain, who was to remain
his lifelong friend. Krishen
Khanna remembers that his
painting had been displayed in the
centre of the PAG exhibition.
About the Artist
11. The Progressive Artists' Group was formed by six founder members, F. N. Souza, S. H.
Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre. Others associated with the
group included Manishi Dey, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar and Tyeb Mehta.
The Progressive Group wished to break with the revivalist nationalism established by the
Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde. The Group was formed just
months after the 14 August, 1947 and the "Partition of India“ because Francis Newton
Souza, S.H. Raza, M. F. Husain and co. wanted to imagine modern art for a free India. It
disbanded in 1956 but this group shaped Indian fine art for decades to come.
Modern Art for a Free India
12. Science and the Arts- a melange of progressive ideas for a young country.
Scientist Homi Bhabha bought the first Krishen Khanna’s
painting for the TIFR collection
13. In Krishen Khann’s painting the “themes of
ordinary life dominate- simple joy and
pleasures of life, colours, vibrant, rich, exciting,
liberating, dancing, smiling, singing, speaking
colours. ”
Vibrant, smiling, singing colours.
14. In the late 1940s, the Progressives were encouraged and received
support from an assortment of European Jewish émigrés who had
fled Europe with the rise of the Nazis to settle in Bombay. Walter
Langhammer, an art teacher as well as Rudolf von Leyden, who
was an art critic for The Times of India, were patrons. They
helped not only financially, but also by opening up a world of
European paintings to these young artists.
Krishen Khanna with Rudy Von Leyden , a respected art critic
The creation of the Progressive Artists Group is
entwined with that of independent India. A
culturally and religiously diverse cast of characters,
the artists came together to form an informal group
in the highly charged political climate of
cosmopolitan 1940s Bombay, as the city was then
called.
Freedom to be modern.
Krishen Khanna with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
15. The founders of the Progressive Artists Group often cite "the partition" as an impetus for their style of
modern art. Their intention was to "paint with absolute freedom for content and technique, almost
anarchic, save that we are governed by one or two sound elemental and eternal laws, of aesthetic order,
plastic co-ordination and colour composition.” they wrote. In 1950, Krishen Khanna joined the Group.
Photo-Raza, Bal Chabbda, Tyeb, Krishen , Akbar
16. Krishen wrote “I’ve painted the people of this country.
But I’m dumbfounded at the popularity of the
bandwallahs,”-something he attributes to the grand
Indian wedding fantasy which has kept at least this one
British institution complete with red coats, brocade
trimmings, hats, trumpets, “the whole jolly lot” —
intact.
17. In this work here, Khanna presents a
bandwallah whose tightly closed
eyes may be both a symbol of his
absorption in the music or the
reflection of his mental fatigue. The
bandwallah, is indispensable for
every marriage celebration.
Piramal Art Foundation collection.
The Bandwallah
18. In his painting Musicians, Khanna’s preoccupation is to recreate the rhythm of music
through the use of white as a connecting note throughout the work. One panel
represents sarod maestro Amjad Khan . The other panel depicts the South Indian
flautist T.R.Mahalingam.
Piramal Art Foundation collection.
North and South- connected with white
19.
20. “I had no idea that this painting would grow to this size. I began with the groom on a white
mare, accompanied with an even more inexperienced youngster seated behind him fearfully
clutching the groom .
The painting took off from this image and became pivotal in the expansion of this work. The
choice of colours and the tone of each expanding form was determined by what had already
been set down.
It seemed to me that the expanding shapes and colours were attaining to a life of their own. The
painting, as it developed, was growing out of its own inevitability plying my energy for recording
the entire movement. It was as if I had abandoned myself to forces beyond me.
I would find myself moving forward and then I would find that what I had left behind as done
would start asking questions. My attention would shift to the earlier panels where modifications
were made…
This was becoming like a mural which by its nature boarders on infinity. The change is scale
involved a wholly different approach to the way this work was painted.”
-KRISHEN KHANNA
A Far Afternoon
