Internationally noted contemporary Indian art historian, art critic, and curator Prof Raman Siva Kumar to conduct workshop on “Engaging with Art: A workshop on reading art and art writing” at Goa University from 22nd to 26th October

  • Goa University

    Directorate of Visiting Research Professor Programme

    PRESS NOTE

    Internationally noted contemporary Indian art historian, art critic, and curator Prof Raman Siva Kumar  to conduct workshop on  “Engaging with Art:  A workshop on reading art and art writing” at Goa University from 22nd to 26th October

    Prof Raman Siva Kumar from the famous art institution of Santiniketan, West Bengal, who is currently serving as Mario Miranda Chair Professor in Art at Goa University will be conducting  a workshop on “Engaging with Art:  A workshop on reading art and art writing” under the Mario Miranda Chair in  Fine art/painting/illustrative/cartooning on from 22nd to 26th October, 2018 from 2:30 to 5.30 p.m. at the Seminar Hall of Goa University. He will also deliver one public lecture which will be held in association with International Centre, Goa, Donapaula at ICG Hall on 24th October from 4.00 pm to 5.30 p.m  on “Engaging with Art: Finding meaning in images“.

    Prof Siva Kumar will conduct following sessions on each day:

    • 22 Oct – Introduction – The art panorama, Art functions, Elements of art, Visual Conventions and Visual Language and Expressive possibilities
    • 23 Oct – Ways of Seeing and Strategies of reading art.
    • 24 Oct – Meaning in art / Meaning of images( Public lecture)
    • 25 Oct – Art Writing
    • 26 Oct – Presentations by participants / Interactive Section and Examination

    This workshop will be of interest to art critics, writers on art and students of art. This workshop is free to students, researchers, faculty member and general public however due to limited number of seats, limited number of participants will be selected on first come first served basis. Those interested in attending may please send mail to [email protected] on or before 18th October. Selected participants will be informed by 20th October, 2018. However public lecture at ICG on 24th October is open for all. A participation certificate will be issued to those who complete the workshop with full attendance.

    This workshop will be coordinated by Prof Nagendra Rao, Head  of Department of  History, Goa University.

    Goa University appeals to interested persons to enrol and participate in these workshop. The VRPP scheme is made possible through the funds provided under seven different chairs named after eminent Goans. Goa University has appointed well-known personalities from their field as visiting professors. In the later month of October , Prof Santiago Girelli from Spain will conduct his course on western music while this will be followed by a credit course.

    For details  please visit unigoa.ac.in

     

    Dr. Nandkumar Mekoth, Director VRPP

     

    Encl: biodata and poster

     

    Biodata of Prof. Raman Siva Kumar

    Raman Siva Kumar (born 3rd  December 1956), well known as R. Siva Kumar, is an internationally noted contemporary Indian art historian, art critic, and curator. R. Siva Kumar’s major research has been in the area of early Indian modernism with special focus on the Santiniketan School. He has written several important books, lectured widely on modern Indian art and contributed articles to prestigious international projects such as the Art Journal, Grove Art Online or The Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press.

    Siva Kumar was born in Kerala. After completing his early education in Pune and Kerala he moved to Santiniketan, where he joined Kala Bhavan and completed his MFA in history of art. and Since 1981, Professor Siva Kumar, who is often considered to be “the most erudite and self-effacing art historian” of his time, has been teaching art history at Kala Bhavana, where he has held several offices, including that of the Principal.

    He was awarded the Kesari puraskaram for art writing by the Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala in 2010. He served as a curatorial adviser for “Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose”, curated by Sonia Rhie Quintanilla for the San Diego Museum of Art, USA. He also has co-curated an exhibition titled “Tryst with Destiny” for the Singapore Art Museum to mark the 50 years of Indian Independence.  His writings on Abanindranath Tagore and the Santiniketan artists have contributed a new perspective on them by shifting the critical focus from nationalist revivalism to a context sensitive modernism. Among his curated exhibitions “Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism” commissioned to mark the fifty years of Indian independence, “Benodebehari: A Centenary Retrospective” (co-curated with Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh) and “The Last Harvest : Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore”, commissioned to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore are considered landmark exhibitions. The reputed Indian Magazine, Frontline reported, “The best show was the one (celebrating 50 years of Indian Independence) curated by R. Siva Kumar of Santiniketan, ‘The Making of a Contextual Modernism’, exhibiting about a hundred works each of Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Kinker Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee”. While “The Last Harvest : Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore”, was shown at ten major museums of the world including the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin; Asia Society, New York; National Museum of Korea, Seoul; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Petit Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome; National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Ontario; and National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. In 2013, he was awarded by the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi for his book “Ram Kinkar Baij – A Retrospective”. R. Siva Kumar has also received a special award from the University of Dhaka for his contribution to the Indian art scene.