AN interesting take on Asian art will be on
display at Prahlad Bubbar’s gallery at 33 Cork Street, London W1 from October 4
to November 15 with the exhibition ‘The Surreal in Indian Painting: Select
Works from the Arturo Schwarz and other Private Collections’, timed to coincide
with Islamic Art Week and Asian Art in London.
Surrealism in the West was launched by Andre
Breton in 1924 with the central idea of releasing the powers of the unconscious
mind and for the Italian art historian, writer, curator and committed Surrealist
Arturo Schwarz, 89, it became a philosophy of life. Half the 24 works in the
show, which date from the 17th to 19th century, formerly belonged to him.
Growing up in Florence, Prahlad Bubbar was also
fascinated by the Surrealists and one of the first exhibitions he attended was
‘I Surrealisti’ in Milan in 1989, curated by Schwarz. The two men met in 2007
and Bubbar was introduced to Schwarz’s collection of Indian art. This show
stems from their friendship and demonstrates that although Surrealism is
associated with the West, for centuries Indian works consistently focused on
the unconscious.
The exhibition has a catalogue featuring essays
by Schwarz, previously unpublished in English, and will illuminate esoteric
themes in Indian painting which should appeal to collectors of Indian art and
to lovers of European Surrealism.
Prahlad Bubbar is a recognised authority on
Indian and Islamic art and opened his Cork Street gallery in May. Works in his
show are priced from £15,000 to £250,000.
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