Today we paint with absolute freedom from contents and techniques, almost anarchic; save that we are governed by one or two sound elemental and eternal laws, of aesthetic order, plastic coordination, and colour composition.
The Progressive Artists Group (PAG) had no manifesto, but this piece of writing might as well have been it. Art and art movements often emerge in opposition to the mainstream, which in the time of these six men in Bombay, was occupied with resurrecting traditional Indian styles and subjects with a dab of patriotic fervour.
The PAG lay claim to bringing the birth of modern art in India – a claim with many claimants. Nevertheless, the history of Indian modern art is usually begun with this movement, which most famously gave the world the work of M.F. Husain.
Six artists – F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara, S.K. Bakre, and H.A. Gade – each with their own reasons for being dissatisfied with the then-contemporary art world. For M.F. Husain, it may have been his fatigue with painting Hindi film posters. For S.H. Raza, it was his ideas being rejected at art school – prompting his suspension (other accounts say he was suspended for slapping a teacher).
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