Avinash Chandra - Rose Fried Gallery exhibition

Solo show at Rose Fried Gallery. 1968
Date: 22 October, 1968 until 20 November, 1968
Curator: Rose Fried Gallery
Organiser: Rose Fried Gallery

‘Avinash Chandra’, was a solo exhibition by the artist, held at the Rose Fried Gallery, then located at 40 East 68th Street, New York. The exhibition’s dates were 22 October - 20 November 1968. The exhibition’s catalogue featured a selection of work made between 1959 and 1968, including a work from the collection of Tate Gallery, Hills of Gold, 1966, 40 x 95 inches.

Chandra, born in Simla, India in 1931, had moved to London in 1956. A decade later he was living in New York, his exhibition at Rose Fried Gallery coming two years later, in 1968. The exhibition came a substantial catalogue, with numerous reproductions of Chandra’s work, with four of his paintings printed in colour, including Hills of Gold. Chandra provided a very interesting biographical essay, “Some personal notes”, outlining the development of his artistic practice. This was reprinted from the October 1968 issue of Studio International. Included in the text, “My painting became a discovery of my Indian nature and temperament, and without knowing it I drew more and more on Indian images. For example, English churches and their Gothic spires reminded me of Hindu temples of the age you find at Khajuraho in Central India.”

Earlier on this fascinating text, Chandra recalled, “What I learned in art school in Delhi about Indian Art was very little, not feeling, at the time, any great interest or passion for the subject. But, of course, we knew all about England and the English, their culture, geography, viceroys etc.; and whenever a native artist veered towards Indian sculpture or miniatures, he was told rather curtly, ‘Come on, do something like what’s going on in Europe!’ An attitude, incidentally, that still exists, but now, for ‘Europe’ read ‘U.S.A.’ In those days it was never fashionable to indulge in or appreciate Indian art and, perhaps as a result, some Indian painters still bear a grudge because of this, blaming the foreign-trained teachers for leading them astray and not having taught them properly, never for a moment giving a thought to the possibility that they themselves might through some mysterious mischance lack any natural talent. So be it.”

»  Avinash Chandra - Rose Fried Gallery catalogue

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 1968