Art Trivia
1. India's premier artist FN Souza was expelled from schools in 1937 and '39. He joined the Sir JJ school of art. From there too, he was expelled in 1945.
2. IRabindranath Tagore took up painting In the late 1920s, at nearly 70 years of age to create works, rated among the best by India's leading contemporary artists.
3. Artist Somnath Hore's remarkable sculpture ‘Mother with Child’ was homage to the spirit of the people's struggle in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the exquisite piece of art was stolen from the Kala Bhavan.
4. Artist Sadanad Bakre used to work as an orderly in a hospital, while in England, where he met a German nurse Dorothy, whom he happened to marry.Amongst the busts he has sculpted are those of the founder of the Jehangir Art Gallery, Sir Cowasji Jehangir and art critic Rudi von Leyden.
5. Ramkinkar Baij, one of the earliest Indian artist to experiment with abstract sculptural forms, successfully integrated elements of Santhal tribal art and life into his work, further enhanced by his understanding of Western expressionism.
6. Imperssionism as a way of painting landscape and scenes of daily life was developed in France by a group of painters led by Monet in early 1860s. The style was actually pioneered by Constable around 1810s in Britain.
7. Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky, considered pioneer of abstract art, studied law and economics at Moscow University. His paintings and woodcuts were mostly inspired by Russian folk art and fairy tales.
8. Fauvism is term used to describe paintings of artists Matisse, Derain and othes in the beginning of the 20th century. They were termed 'les fauves' or the wild beasts to denote their usage of strident colour and apparently wild brushwork.
9. Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh first worked for an art dealers' firm from where he was dismissed 1876. He then studied theology, but gave it up. Later, he volunteered to work as a preacher for the miners of the Borinage, but after being dismisses from their as well, he took up painting seriously.
10. French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne's early works were invariably rejected. His paintings were rarely exhibited, and were known to only his fellow artists.He got recognition quite later in his life; in his last few years.
