How cartoonists made Bengal laugh and challenged the status quo in the years after Independence

An interview with Samit Das, the curator of an exhibition titled ‘Cartoons In Bengal 1950-1970: Freedom of Speech and Socio-Political Artistic Voice’.

Sayari Debnath

· Jul 26, 2022 · 11:30 am

Did a Marathi film released in May predict the current political crisis in Maharashtra?

‘Dharmaveer’, a hagiography of Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe, puts rebel Eknath Shinde in a starring role.

Nandini Ramnath

· Jun 24, 2022 · 01:04 pm

Tattoos were common in the ancient world. It is colonialism that stigmatised them

What many people know and think about the artform is heavily influenced by oppression, racism and colonialism.

Allison Hawn, The Conversation

· Sep 23, 2021 · 11:30 pm

A cartoonist is using satire to spotlight Assam’s biodiversity – and its destruction

Deborshee Gogoi says his work gives ‘voice to voiceless animals’.

Teresa Rehman

· Jul 04, 2020 · 01:30 pm

Bollywood and the BJP: One year after splashy photo-op with Modi, a quiet dinner with his minister

The government’s Citizenship Amendment Act outreach event in Mumbai on Sunday was a low-key affair.

Nandini Ramnath

· Jan 06, 2020 · 02:24 pm

The artistry of free speech in South Asia: Politics is inescapable but it isn’t the end-all of art

It is possible to be an artist, an intellectual, in a mode that is not necessarily or overtly oppositional and combative.

Ananya Vajpeyi

· Nov 25, 2019 · 06:30 am

Demands to remove US mural for ‘glorifying slavery’ raise important questions about art censorship

Victor Arnautoff’s ‘The Life of Washington’ has lined the hallways of San Francisco’s George Washington High School for years, but may soon be gone.

Amna Khalid, The Conversation

 & 

Jeffrey Aaron Snyder, The Conversation

· May 13, 2019 · 11:30 pm

‘There’s nothing derogatory in my paintings,’ says artist at centre of Loyola College art row

The college is being targeted because it is a minority institution, said one of the exhibition’s organisers.

S Senthalir

· Jan 24, 2019 · 09:03 am

Are China and India gearing up to reprise the soft power rivalry between America and Soviet Union?

China’s approach to promoting art is organised and controlled by the state. India’s is more spontaneous, sponsored by individuals and corporations.

John Zarobell

· Jan 06, 2019 · 09:30 pm

Rudolf von Leyden: The German-born cartoonist who became Bombay’s top art critic in the 1930s

He also became a collector of, and later an authority on, antique board games and Indian playing cards.

Mollie Arbuthnot

· Dec 16, 2018 · 01:30 pm

Jon McNaughton: The American Right-wing painter who uses allegory to portray modern conservatism

McNaughton's works elicit giddy mockery from the Left and effusive love from the Right. Why do they resonate so strongly?

John Dyck, The Conversation

· Jul 09, 2018 · 11:30 pm

A politician questioned the credentials of Bengal’s most respected living poet. Everyone jumped in

The political and the literary have always had a close but chequered relationship in the state.

Shinjini Basu

· May 19, 2018 · 07:30 am