Modern Indian sculpture

The essentials

Modern Indian sculpture broke away from purely academic portrait statues and decorative carving. Sculptors explored the human condition, new materials and simplified forms.

Key points

• Ramkinkar Baij (Santiniketan): used cement and concrete mixed with laterite for large outdoor sculptures; his "Santhal Family" shows a tribal family walking with their belongings, full of energy and movement.
• D. P. Roy Chowdhury: head of the Madras art school; his bronze "Triumph of Labour" in Chennai shows workers straining to move a huge rock; also known for the Martyrs' Memorial in Patna.
• Somnath Hore: deeply affected by the Bengal famine of 1943 and the Tebhaga peasant movement. His bronze figures are thin, stretched and wounded, with rough, torn surfaces, expressing human suffering. His "Wounds" series, made as cast paper pulp prints, shows cuts and scars on white paper.
• Meera Mukherjee: worked with the traditional lost-wax casting methods of tribal metal craftsmen (dhokra) to make modern bronze sculptures.
• Sankho Chaudhuri, Dhanraj Bhagat and Amar Nath Sehgal also explored simplified and semi-abstract forms in metal, wood and stone.

Exam tips

• Somnath Hore = suffering, famine, "Wounds".
• Ramkinkar = Santhal Family, cement concrete, outdoors.
• Roy Chowdhury = Triumph of Labour.

Common mistakes

• Thinking Somnath Hore's figures are idealised and smooth; they are emaciated and rough.
• Mixing up Ramkinkar Baij (sculptor) with Rabindranath Tagore.