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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)Volume 8, Issue 5, May 2017, pp.
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976
© IAEME Publication
DESIGN THINKING
INNOVATION IN
Research Scholar
ABSTRACT
The time period of Shah as an artist is
journey started from a village, he had exposed himself to the global art scene. This
transformation consolidates him to f
human existence and creating an aspect of natural freedom. It is, therefore, worth
translating from the metaphorical to metonymy and the aesthetic of the displaced
part.
Key words: Colonial Legacy
Design Innovation in Modern Art, Form
Art.
Cite this Article: Arjun Kumar Singh Design Thinking, Planning & Innovation in
Himmat Shah’s Art. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technol
2017, pp. 1384–1389.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
1. INTRODUCTION Soon after the fall of the Mughal Empire
identity. It was the time, when Indian artisans beca
existence. The Mughals, who migrated from Persia and settled down in India during 16
century, hardly changed the socio
had struck at the soul of the Indian villages. They ha
Indian society without any symptoms of reconstitutions yet appearing.
directly to rule us after the fall of 1857 war, they introduced a new economical, social
educational and political structure which was based on
& economical ends. As a colony of Great
was systematically thrust that suited their taste.
significant void in the minds of
This situation gave a fire to bring Indian modernity in a radical way, except
School, the major bulk of progressive artist groups were also
linked with radical mass movements.
Movement' also rendered an atmosphere
could not remain aloof. For them
resistance to Western education and evaluating sys
IJCIET/index.asp 1384 [email protected]
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) 2017, pp. 1384–1389, Article ID: IJCIET_08_05_149
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
Scopus Indexed
ESIGN THINKING, PLANNING
INNOVATION IN HIMMAT SHAH’S ART
Arjun Kumar Singh
Research Scholar, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, Indi
The time period of Shah as an artist is stretched from 1953 to till date. Though his
journey started from a village, he had exposed himself to the global art scene. This
transformation consolidates him to fragments a note of live civilization, the mark of
human existence and creating an aspect of natural freedom. It is, therefore, worth
translating from the metaphorical to metonymy and the aesthetic of the displaced
egacy and Struggle for New Idiom, Modern Indian Art,
Innovation in Modern Art, Formalism, Geometrical Abstraction,
Arjun Kumar Singh Design Thinking, Planning & Innovation in
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technol
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
fall of the Mughal Empire, Indian Art was in a dilemma search
when Indian artisans became helpless and worried about their
who migrated from Persia and settled down in India during 16
hardly changed the socio-cultural system of rural life but British East India Company
Indian villages. They had broken down the entire framewor
Indian society without any symptoms of reconstitutions yet appearing.
rule us after the fall of 1857 war, they introduced a new economical, social
and political structure which was based on their thinking and suited their
economical ends. As a colony of Great Britain, profound modernism on the Indian heart
that suited their taste. This unusual development had created a
gnificant void in the minds of Indian who was completely cut off from his roots.
a fire to bring Indian modernity in a radical way, except
progressive artist groups were also affected. Some of them were
l mass movements. The involvement of people in 1942 ‘
an atmosphere for liberation from colonial hegemony
For them, the search for new artistic movement was a kind of
resistance to Western education and evaluating system. The Modern Indian art had to bring a
[email protected]
asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
LANNING&
HIMMAT SHAH’S ART
, India.
stretched from 1953 to till date. Though his
journey started from a village, he had exposed himself to the global art scene. This
ragments a note of live civilization, the mark of
human existence and creating an aspect of natural freedom. It is, therefore, worth
translating from the metaphorical to metonymy and the aesthetic of the displaced
Modern Indian Art,
lism, Geometrical Abstraction, Neo-Tantric
Arjun Kumar Singh Design Thinking, Planning & Innovation in
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(5),
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
a dilemma searching for a new
me helpless and worried about their
who migrated from Persia and settled down in India during 16th
but British East India Company
broken down the entire framework of
British who came
rule us after the fall of 1857 war, they introduced a new economical, social,
suited their political
profound modernism on the Indian heart
development had created a
tely cut off from his roots.
a fire to bring Indian modernity in a radical way, except Bengal
. Some of them were
of people in 1942 ‘Quit India
for liberation from colonial hegemony, where artists
the search for new artistic movement was a kind of
tem. The Modern Indian art had to bring a
Design Thinking, Planning & Innovation in Himmat Shah’s Art
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thorough amalgamation of local thought process and western techniques. The Modern Indian
artist had to differ from his predecessor in many respects from the selection of subject matter
and material used.
Himmat Shah, the first batch student of Baroda School was also fired by the same zeal. In
order to find a new Indian artistic language, he went to several new sources and western
artists. The creative output of Paul Klee, Picasso, Giacometti, Henry Moore etc touched his
creative nerve of Himmat Shah. He explored his own method and materials to fabricate art
through their inspiration. The time period of Shah as an artist is stretched since 1953 to till
date. He has been an active practitioner of modernism in Indian art since 1950’s. Though his
journey started from a village, he exposed himself into the global scenario as an artist. His
works ultimately opened up to an aesthetically novel and individualistic approach to
practicing art.
Kapoor Geeta (2000) writes “Himmat Shah comes from a Jain family that had moved
from Kathiawar to Ahmadabad district. His grandfather was a ‘Nagarseth’ in the village of
Lothal, the site of the major archeological excavation. In fact, the site virtually overlapped
with their lands. The family traded in grain and cotton; they also had land, cattle, and horses.
By the time Himmat grew up the family prosperity had declined, his father who practiced
Ayuevedic Medicine along with a much dwindled trade could not hold down Himmat’s
adolescent rebellion against domestic feuds. Himmat was in and out of school – once he ran
away from home and hang out in an ashram in Girnar – but he had a spell of enlighten
education in Ahmadabad , where his drawing was noticed, and he returned to the city to do a
diploma in art teaching. He, finally, made his way to the Fine Arts Faculty of Baroda, where
he spent six years (1955 – 61) and became something a young star, soon after Baroda he
come to live in Delhi.
This was in July 1962. He stayed with Ambadas, he was welcomed by J. Swaminathan
and he took up his earlier friendship with a kindred spirit, Jeram Patel and soon became a
core member of ‘the Group 1890’. The group was reaction to the idea that the Paris school of
art was central to the movement. Many artists felt strong need for the indigenous expression
in their respective approaches and derivative styles.
2. A RADICAL DEPARTURE
After the industrial revolution of 18th
-19th
century, Western visual arts were geared towards
representing external visual reality, using architectural sense to build the illusion of 3D forms.
From the earliest attempts at abstraction, geometric forms have been a driving force of
motivation for artists, often representing a path breaking phenomenon between figurative and
abstract art and it has positioned to expand throughout 21st century.
In the early 20th century, geometry continued to play an important role in the journey
towards abstraction, with cubist painters, most notably Pablo Picasso and George Braque,
creating highly geometrical images characterized by intersecting lines with monochromatic
pallet. This stylistic radical device was influenced by African, Polynesian, Micronesian, and
Native American art which provide the angular, geometrical compositions and a primitive
aesthetical ground to attempts subject matter from multiple viewpoints. The cubist aimed to
mark a radical departure from the earlier painting to represent external visual reality.
By contrast, a number of other movements emerged in visual arts which took abstraction
as a core argument for their practices. Constructivism, DeStijl and Suprematism were
characterized by use of geometrical shapes and compositions. Amongst the most prominent
works combining abstraction and geometry were conceptualized by Russian painter and
pioneer of the Supremacist movement, Kazimir Malevich. Malevich termed “the primacy of
pure feeling in creative art”, eschewing figuration on the basis that “the visual phenomena of
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the objective world are, in themselves, meaningless”, and citing “feeling” as “the only
significant thing”. Piet Mondrian was the contemporary of Malevich; his iconic geometric
compositions comprising blocks of primary colors and white separated by black lines
represent geometric abstraction at its most pure. Of his artistic mission, he wrote: “I want to
come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that”, his quest for truth
and pure abstraction a common theme amongst geometric abstract painters of the period.
Since the advent of abstraction in the visual art until the present day (1910s, ‘20, and 30s)
geometry has been a constant source of inspiration for artists, representing a means of
breaking free from illusory and imitative art. The inception of this formulistic device
provides us a weapon to hit on traditional visual practices and create a corridor to manipulate
multiple forms in a given space.
3. JUXTAPOSITION ‘THE LITTLE AND THE GREAT’
The post-independence era in India, many modernist reflect their ambition to choose
abstraction as a form of expression. From its emergence, the way of adopting abstract
language by artist helped them to branch out in different ways. Artists choose their tools from
abstraction as per their political and social affiliation; they fixed parameters as per their
inspiration, as dominance by western masters and Indian master’s move from representational
method to reflect broader aspect of creation. The Indian artist had to struggle long and hard to
understand as a new vocabulary to import subject, flavor and vitality thoroughly Indian.
“Indian artist also tried to discover that how they carried more indigenous cultural values in
their creation. Those who boldly adopted the abstraction included, Ram Kumar, K.C.S.
Panikar, Bimal Das Gupta, S.H. Raza, Jahangir Sabawala, V.S. Gaitonde, Shanti Dave, Jeram
Patel, J. Swaminathan, Ambadas, G.R. Santosh, Biren De, Surya Parkash, Nareen Nath,
Parbhakar Barwe and later it went on to become a lively trend. However, it is to be noted that
while the impact of the West on certain phases of modern Indian art has been crucial, it has
been largely catalytic rather than decisive. “It is in this decade, we notice the consolidation of
abstract art and its proliferation into different subsidiary groups each encompassing or
exploring a particular tendency.”
There was a reaction away from the western influence and an aspiration towards finding
an Indian identity within the modern art idiom. This idea was eloquently articulated by a pan-
Indian group named ‘Group 1890’. The group was reaction to the idea that the Paris school of
art was central to the movement. At that time, many significant artists feel a strong need for
the indigenous expression in their respective approaches and derivative styles.
Himmat Shah was one of the youngest (founder) members of Group 1890, who shows
courage to express freely what he was realizing. That seems too little but was a great effort to
show his existence in the arena of post-modern Indian art scenario. An eminent contemporary
art critic Kapoor Geeta (2000) has focused on the metaphor of Himmat Shah Works. She
says that:
“Modernist aesthetics has produced many ‘awatars’ of the early twentieth century idea of
‘significant forms.’ The ideas flourished on account of the ideological claim of universality
by the moderns; on account of the more conductive claim for a universal language of forms to
which artists happily subscribe. What is privileged in the modernist vision is a transformation
of material into form via a process of metaphorical condensation therefore the insistence on
the materiality of the transformational process itself rather than on the consequent (cultural)
meaning.”
Design Thinking, Planning & Innovation in Himmat Shah’s Art
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Figure 3.1 Himmat Shah/ Silver Painting Series Mix Media on board/ 1967-70
3.1. The search of indigenous tradition
In the 70s and 80s, some distinguish artists in India reflect a desire to express symbolic,
utopian, or metaphysical ideal inspired by tantric visual manifestation, as to find their own
identity in their own tradition. Indian artists found an indigenous theory that has its roots in
ancient mythological tradition. Artists like K.C.S. Panikar, Biren De, G.R.Santosh, S.H.Raza,
J. Swaminathan, Om Parkash Sharma, PufullaMohanti, MahirvanMamtani, K.V.Haridasan,
V.Viswanadhan had created their own abstract style based on symbolic meaning deeply
rooted in the Indian philosophy of Tantra. Tantra symbols are basically mythological which
deals the notion of ‘Shiva and Shakti’ combination of negative and positive energy
enlightenment of unity. It was the search to find the route of non figurative visual tradition in
Indian sub-continent. Later on it was realized that there are no objective reality existing in
Neo-Tantric are only interpretations.
3.2. The search of individuality
Himmat Shah was not directly related to this movement but influenced because he was highly
associated with painter, thinker J. Swaminathan in 1960s-70s. He spent a lot of time to follow
him and was the core member of group member of ‘Group 1890’. He went to Paris in 1966
on a scholarship and returned in October 1967 via London, where he stayed some time with
Raghav Kaneria. Himmat shown a huge amount of art during this European sojourn and,
besides conforming his admiration for like Picasso, Miro, Brancussi, Giacometti, he focused
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on a pertinent set of artists – Fotana (Himmat wanted to work with him), Burri, Tapies,
Saulages – artists he knew from reproductions in Baroda and who suited his own already
distinct sensibility – then later, Carl Andre, who he met in India in 1971, at the 2nd
Indian
Triennial.
On his return to India, he took two years to work on a major relief-mural in brick and
cement in a modernist building of his architect friend, Hasmukh Patel: the Saint Xavier’s
school in Ahmadabad. For one of the three walls (18’ x 20’), he prepared 40 moulds from
which he cast in cement relief. Devising in own methods of work, he also positioned himself
in the contemporary sculpture field on the cusp of late modernist formalism. Himmat, thus,
come to stand apart in Indian art not only vis-à-vis his sculptor colleagues, but also the older
painter – turned – muralists like K.G. Subramaniyam, Satish Gujral and M.F. Hussain, who
continued to rely in the pictorial in their mid-60s terracotta and mosaic tile murals. Himmat
went right on ahead to handle the sculptural vocabulary of geometrical abstraction on a
monumental scale and, then, when he returned to ‘painting’ he made densely tactile relief
using plaster, tar, cloth, enamel paint, silver foil, what-not reliefs that were ‘walls’ (like
village walls that he had joined hands to plaster and decorate as a child / and like materially
replete modernist walls of contemporary European painters he had begun to admire in the
1960s).
Figure 3.2 Himmat Shah/ Wall Mural on the Saint Xavier’s School Ahmadabad / Concrete/ 1967-70
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From 1970, he was again living in Delhi for a while with J. Swaminathan. In the mid –
1970s he started to do sculpture in direct plaster, which he showed first in 1979. These long
interludes mark the time he took to evolve his own design, techniques and to also let the
sculpture become itself – some of the plaster heads were immersed in linseed oil till they
hardened into stone and then covered with silver-leaf to make them into ageless deities. In his
cement mural or silver painting series, employed basic geometrical shapes to reflect the pure
energy of Indian environment. He, also, uses the row/primary colors to show his connection
to rural India or Indigenous cultural tradition. Sometimes he put gold and silver foil to
emphasize the composition and connect us how medium echoes the dominance over any act
going on day to day Indian life. Through the basic shape and texture he also tries to arrow our
sub conscious mind to see our geographical landscape and his long travel all around different
parts of India. His geometrical perception/presentation is not only a shapes but the core
element of nature and the act of nature is very important in Himmat Shah’s context.
Shekh, Nilima (2013) says his sculpture foregrounds the question of rural visual culture
coalescing, or being brought to coalesce, with the modern urban preoccupations of design and
art.
4. CONCLUSION
The time period of Shah as an artist is stretched from 1953 to till date. Though his journey
started from a village, he had exposed himself to the global art scene. This transformation
consolidates him to fragments a note of live civilization, the mark of human existence and
creating an aspect of natural freedom. It is, therefore, worth translating from the metaphorical
to metonymy and the aesthetic of the displaced part.
This aesthetical development pushed Himmat Shah to set a live and path breaking
phenomenon for his creation. Through nonfigurative and abstract practice, he may able to
transcend a widespread expression which is not directly referred to any region/religion or
community. Geometrical understanding helped him to design a work of art in a powerful
manner and create a secular visual vocabulary which is actually lost after 1980’s in India. He
is a modernist/formalist and taken inspiration by western art but he himself tried to designed a
personal/ individualistic way to create a body of art where he may able to claim that it only
can done by Himmat.
REFERENCES
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[2] Ideelart (2014). Abstraction and Geometry. The Online Galleristfor Contemporary
Abstract Art. Retrieved from http://www.ideelart.com/module/csblog/post/27-1-
abstraction-and-geometry-by-ideelart.html/ 07/10/2016.
[3] B.Gopala Krishna Reddy, Y.Harsha, N.Lingeshwaran, and SS.Asadi A Critical SWOT
Analysis for Smart City Planning: A Model Study From Eluru City, International Journal
of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(4), 2017, pp. 1506-1513.
[4] Appsamy, Jaya (1993). The Paths of Abstraction, The Critical Vision, Delhi: L.K.A. Pg. 5.
[5] Kapoor, Geeta (2000). The Bohemian as Hermit. Art India 5. 2. Pg. - 60, 62. Print.
[6] Shekh, Nilima (2013). Himmat Shah: His Image Condenses Memory, Geographical
Encounter. Modern Times Magazine of Design & Interiors. Vol: 81. Prints.
