Happy New Year! From here marks fresh beginnings, and the excitement for the much awaited
Art Fair 2019. Yet with us we carry the reminiscences of the year gone by. On 30th December 2018
we witnessed the passing away of renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen. Journalist Shanku Sharma pays
him a humble tribute with his amorous obituary, laying emphasis on two of his personal favorites
out of Sen’s creations: Mrigayaa and Bhuvan Shome. Art writer Santanu Ganguly takes on from
there and writes a detailed essay about the movie mogul – his life, his craft, his vision; and a little
about the writer’s brief rendezvous with the man himself.

This year, Art & Deal begins with a bi-monthly edition covering both January and February,
aiming to present a wider array of stories and events to peruse.

The ‘star’ that gets to feature on the cover this month is Bengal’s Baluchari. This issue lays focus
on the crafting of Baluchari silk saris – cocoon to yardage. Founder of Kolkata’s much acclaimed
Weaver’s Studio Ms. Darshan Shah writes eloquently about the silks of Baluchar, its advent, its
birthplace, its motifs, its heydays, its downfall, and its eventual revival in more contemporaneous
light. She also mentions the ‘Baluchars’, an exhibition that is slated to happen at the National
Museum from February 8th to March 20th with an aim to promote the holistic understanding of
this rich textile tradition.

In a similar theme, I have attempted to write about my father Subho Tagore’s collection of
Baluchari saris. He had always been an avid collector with a keen eye for detail, and possessed
nearly 150 Balucharis in his collection. There was delight and much proficiency in how he procured
and preserved them. With this story, I have included photographs of certain distinctive sari motifs
from my personal collection.

Eminent photographer Sanjay Das does a photo story documenting the weaver colonies in
various parts of West Bengal as an ode to the role they play to keep alive the dying craft of Baluchari
Silk weaving, one of the prides of Bengal.

Moving on to the contemporary art scene, curator Rahul Bhattacharya interviews one of the most
important contemporary exponents of abstraction in art, Shridhar Iyer. Iyer has been exhibiting
since 1985, having held several solo shows and participating in important group shows globally. His
works are part of some important collections across the world. In this interview, he also talks about
his upcoming solo ‘Tambulam’. Later in the issue, Bhattacharya also interviews Indira Purkayastha,
another strong albeit unassuming contemporary sculptor from Chhattisgarh who works primarily
with an assortment of woods.

In our international segment this month, Rajesh Punj interviews Irish born-American based
artist and sculptor Sean Scully; perhaps one of those few men, according to Punj, who makes even
minimalism ‘emotional’. Amit Mukhopadhyay writes an intense and detailed essay about the
incomplete modernity of Indian art, covering the eras between 1867-1947 in this part.
Among the very dynamic art events that happened last year, Dhiraj Singh reports the fêted
Serendipity Arts Fest that took place between 15th to 22nd December in Panjim, Goa. Indira
Lakshmi Prasad comments about the Bhubaneswar Art Trail which happened between November
19th to December 18th, most definitely the first art project of its caliber in Odisha, featuring artists
like Pratul Dash, Markus Baenziger and more. Guddi Vyas accounts the five days long Bikaner
Art Festival 2018 which had artists participating from India, Italy, Tunisia and Palestine. Arpita
Akhanda reviews the group show ‘Inward Vision’ that happened in Arts Acre, Kolkata; and
Sudipto Mullick reviews Akar Prakar Kolkata’s ‘Chittaprosad Bhattacharya and His Other ‘Eyes’, a
retrospective curated by Ganesh Haloi.

As always feel free to write to us with your comments, feedback and suggestions.

Happy Reading
Siddhartha Tagore