The Exhibition of a Painter Extraordinaire #ShiavaxChavda at #JehangirArtGallery

The Exhibition of a Painter Extraordinaire #ShiavaxChavda #JerooChavda #Jyothi #ShanayaChavda #PhirozaChavda #JohnsonThomas #NinaGoel #PhirozaGodrej #RanjitHoskote The Dancing Line - revisiting Shiavax Chavda A Retrospective of paintings & sketches of the Master WHAT: ‘The Dancing Line – revisiting Shiavax Chavda’, a Retrospective of paintings & sketches of the master. WHEN: Tuesday October 24th to Monday October 30th, 2017 WHERE: Jehangir Art Gallery, Kalaghoda, Mumbai TIMINGS: 11am to 7pm For media related information, please call Khushnoor at 9820548125 ‘The Dancing Line – revisiting Shiavax Chavda’ For the first time in 22 years, the family of late artist Shiavax Chavda will be holding a dedicated retrospective of his works at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, from October 24-30, 2017. ‘The Dancing Line – revisiting Shiavax Chavda’, is an opportunity to view a treasure trove of paintings and sketches by the master. This retrospective aims to showcase the versatility of the artist, who over four decades experimented in various artistic styles and created a body of work that is still revered and appreciated by art lovers and students alike. Art lovers will also get a rare opportunity to purchase one of these masterpieces. The exhibition comprises a variety of the artist’s works including his human studies, tempera work, fisherfolk, birds, serpents & animal series, Balinese masks, Indian musicians, classical Indian dancers, semi abstract & abstract art. Considered one of the pioneers of Indian modern art, Chavda was felicitated as fellow of the Lalit Kala Academi in 1986 and awarded Artist of the year by Maharashtra State government in 1990. The artist who was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists movement, held his first show at the Taj Mahal hotel Prince's Room in 1945. He gave top priority to drawing and was considered a master draughtsman. Over his four decade long career, he experimented with paper, canvas, silk, plywood, Chinese ink, crayon, water colour, tempera and oils.

Chavda’s beautiful portrayals of dance in its various forms caught the art world's attention & have made up a large portion of his body of work. He often created sketches of dancers from the Russian Imperial ballet, the Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet, including renowned ballerinas such as Margot Fonteyn and Anna Pavlova. He was also fascinated by animals which he felt were "naked and offer a real test to one's skills of draughtsmanship." Chavda’s paintings are currently exhibited in several esteemed museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Budapest Museum, The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Baroda museum, corporate houses like Tatas and Godrej & Boyce, institutions like Northcote nursing home and other private and public collections in India and abroad. He has held 42 one man shows in Mumbai, as well as a few in Ahmedabad, Djakarta, Singapore, London, Paris, Zurich and New York. The artist passed away on August 18, 1990 at the age of 76. Kekoo Gandhy, a friend and owner of Chemould gallery said in an interview, "I will always like to remember him through his sketch books and his Gouache (tempera) technique (where you mix paint with egg yolk). His draughtsmanship was incomparable. But more than the artist perhaps it was Shiavax the man who had my greatest admiration and respect. He was very warm, dignified and very proper, a far cry from the archetypal shabby artist..."