The Faculty of Fine Arts,

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

is one of the major art colleges in India. It has a reputation for promoting a creative and individualist approach among its students, and has historically adhered to secularist, humanist, and modernist ideals.

Early history

In 1881, the famous Indian painter

Raja Ravi Varma Raja Ravi Varma ( ml, രാജാ രവിവർമ്മ; 29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art. His works are one of the best examples ...

was invited to the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

by the

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III Sayajirao Gaekwad III (born Shrimant Gopalrao Gaekwad; 11 March 1863 – 6 February 1939) was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, and is remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Gae ...

belonging the royal

Gaekwad Gaekwad (also spelt Gaikwar and Gaikwad; mr, Gāyǎkǎvāḍǎ) is a surname native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The surname is found among the Marathas, Kolis and in Scheduled castes. It is also a common surname among Bharadis, Dhor, an ...

dynasty of the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

. Varma was treated with great respect by the Gaekwad court. Besides commissioned portraits of Maharaja Gaekwad III, he produced several other fine canvases during his stay. His visit is generally credited as a motivating force in the creation of The Baroda Museum under the patronage of Maharaja Sayajirao, which began construction in 1887 and was completed in 1894. During the years 1903 and 1904, the Maharajah and the new director of this museum, Mr. A.M. Masani, toured the museums and galleries of Europe and purchased in excess of twenty rare paintings plus numerous other art objects. The

College of Science was established in 1881 by the Maharaja, and developed into a full-fledged degree institution in 1889. The idea of establishing a separate university for Baroda was first advanced as early as 1927 by Sir Sayajirao himself. It came into existence on 30 April 1949, at the time of the merger of the Baroda State with the State of Bombay. Necessary changes were incorporated into the constitution of the Baroda College with a view to establishing separate Faculties in the university. Thus, the Baroda College, one of the oldest Centers of learning in western India, came to include the Faculty of Fine Arts. At the beginning, the courses that the Faculty offered includes painting, sculpture, applied arts, art history, music, dance, and architecture. The vice-chancellor of the new university, Hansa Mehta, believed in a liberal, literate, academic climate, where

constructive engagement Constructive engagement was the name given to the conciliatory foreign policy of the Reagan administration towards the apartheid regime in South Africa. Devised by Chester Crocker, Reagan's U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs ...

and open dialogue would ensure full intellectual discourse and intellectual growth. She used her own resources to solicit the help of Markand Bhatt from the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia to help in the initial setting up of the Faculty of Fine Arts. Major figures in Indian art were invited to join the new project. They included K.K. Hebbar, V.P. Karmarkar and the eminent Indianologist Hermann Goetz. Others who were early involved with the new faculty were

N. S. Bendre Narayan Shridhar Bendre (21 August 1910 – 19 February 1992), was a 20th-century Indian artist and one of the founder members of Baroda Group Narayan Shridhar Bendre was born in Indore. He made a name for himself as a landscape artist. ...

and

K.G. Subramanyan Kalpathi Ganpathi "K.G." Subramanyan (1924 29 June 2016) was an Indian artist. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012. Life Subramanyan was born in Tamil Brahmin family on 1924 in Kuthuparamba in Kerala, India, and initially studied econ ...

.''Contemporary Art In Baroda'', Tulika Publishers, 1997,

Achievements

Over the years the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda, became synonymous with modernist art practices and experimentation in India. In 1956 " The Baroda Group", which included artists such as

Jyoti Bhatt Jyotindra Manshankar Bhatt (12 March 1934), better known as Jyoti Bhatt, is an Indian artist best known for his modernist work in painting and printmaking and also his photographic documentation of rural Indian culture. He studied painting unde ...

, Prafull Dave,

Shanti Dave Shanti Dave is an Indian painter and sculptor, considered by many as one of the major Indian artists of the twentieth century. He is a former member of the Lalit Kala Akademi and the Sahitya Kala Parishad. The Government of India awarded him th ...

, and

Jayant Parikh Jayant Parikh (born 2 April 1940) is an Indian artist, printmaker, and muralist. He is a student of N. S. Bendre, K. G. Subramanyan and Sankho Chaudhuri. He lives and works in Vadodara, India. His work is held in the collections of the Nationa ...

held their first exhibition in Bombay. The Baroda Group continued with exhibitions that received attention throughout India and also in the west. Soon the Faculty of Fine Arts was to attract the likes of artists such as Laxma Goud and Nasreen Mohammedi. Senior artists of Baroda, such as Sankho Chaudhuri, continued to live there and teach.''Indian Contemporary Painting'', Neville Tuli, Hary N. Abrams Incorporated, 1998, Over the decades artists from the Faculty of Fine Arts went on to participate in exhibitions worldwide, such as the Paris Biennale, the São Paulo Biennale, and the Tokyo Biennale. Many of India's best known and historically respected artists have their roots in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Faculty members and Alumni

* Gulammohammed Sheikh *

* Mahendra Pandya * Dr Ratan Parimoo *

Nilima Sheikh Nilima Sheikh (born 18 November 1945) is a visual artist based in Baroda, India. Since the mid-80s, Sheikh has done extensive research about traditional art forms in India, advocated for the sustainability of the practice of traditional painte ...

* Dadasaheb Phalke *

Latika Katt Latika (Hindi: लतिका) is a Hindu/Sanskrit Indian feminine given name, which means "goddess". Notable people named Latika * Latika Bourke (born 1984), Australian author and journalist * Latika Katt (born 1948), Indian sculptor * L ...

Haku Shah Haku Vajubhai Shah (26 March, 1934 – 21 March, 2019) was an Indian painter, Gandhian, cultural anthropologist and author on folk and tribal art and culture. His art belonged to the Baroda Group and his works are considered in the line of artis ...

* N.N. Rimzon *

Laxma Goud Kalal Laxma Goud (born 21 August 1940) is an Indian painter, printmaker and draughtsman. He works in variety of mediums including etching, gouache, pastel, sculpture, and glass painting. He is best known for his early drawings that depict ero ...

Bhupen Khakhar Bhupen Khakhar (also spelled Bhupen Khakkar, 10 March 1934 – 8 August 2003) was an Indian artist. He was a member of the Baroda Group and gained international recognition for his work as "India's first 'Pop' artist." Works Khakhar was a self ...

Nasreen Mohamedi Nasreen Mohamedi (1937—1990) was an Indian artist best known for her line-based drawings, and is today considered one of the most essential modern artists from India. Despite being relatively unknown outside of her native country during her l ...

Dhruva Mistry Dhruva Mistry (born 1 January 1957) is an Indian sculpture, sculptor. Biography Mistry was born on 1 January 1957, Kanjari, central Gujarat in India and studied Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda in 1974-1981 ...

* Pradyumna Dave' * Pushpamala N. *

Vivan Sundaram Vivan Sundaram (born 28 May 1943) is an Indian contemporary artist. His parents were Kalyan Sundaram, Chairman of Law Commission of India from 1968 to 1971, and Indira Sher-Gil, sister of noted Indian modern artist Amrita Sher-Gil. He is mar ...

Sankho Chaudhuri Sankho Chaudhuri (25 February 1916 – 28 August 2006) was an Indian sculptor, a noted figure in the art scene of India. (Although named Naranarain in due family tradition, he was more widely known by his pet-name Sankho). Ram Kinker Baij was h ...

* Savithri Rajeevan * Saroj Kumar Singh *

Sosa Joseph Sosa Joseph (born 1971) is an Indian contemporary artist living in Kochi, Kerala. She is considered an important exponent of the contemporary female art in Kerala, India. Joseph studied at the Raja Ravi Varma College of Fine Arts, Mavelikara K ...

* D. V. Gajjar * Raghav Kaneria * Markand Bhatt

References

External links

Faculty of Fine Arts, Official website
*

Indian art Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, N ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faculty Of Fine Arts Universities and colleges in Vadodara Art schools in India Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda University departments in India