Exhibits on display from 7 to 13 February 2023 at Jehangir Art Gallery
Mumbai Feb 2023: The Bombay Art Society, one of the oldest non-profit art institutions in the Asian subcontinent is presenting its 131st All India annual Art Exhibition from 7th to 13th Feb 2023 at Jehangir Art Gallery. The annual art exhibition was inaugurated at the hands of Hon. Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar, Minister, Forests, Cultural Affairs, Fisheries and Dr. Saryu Doshi, art historian and former Director, NGMA, Mumbai and Shri. Rajendra Patil and in presence of hundreds of artists at 5.00pm on 7th Feb 2023 at Jahangir Art Gallery.
Shri. Sudhir Mungantiwar, Minister for Forests, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries shared, “First of all let me congratulate all the artists who have been awarded at by The Bombay Art Society. God is the ultimate artist, and when we see Art created by the artists it brings us close to God. Maharashtra is in top 10 with its large culture treasure trove, and I will ensure that my Cultural Affairs dept will work hard to preserve our rich heritage. We have proposed a tie up with Jehangir Art Gallery and P L Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy to open the Prabhadevi location for artists at nominal rates for them to showcase their Art work. We will be creating a portal for specially for Artists in Maharashtra who can put up their artworks on sale which can be accessed by people across the world.”
Rajendra Patil, President of The Bombay Art Society shared, “The all-India annual art exhibition has been the important art event on the calendar of visual arts events in country since its beginning in 1888. This year, 48 awards to the artists from 2500 entries in the categories like paintings, sculptures, graphics, photography along with the Bendre-Husain scholarship, The Sangita Jindal Scholarship and Sandhya Misra scholarship are presented to the young artists. It is an important event for artists in eastern and southern parts of India as The Bombay Art Society receives exhibition entries as far away as Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala from many years. This year we honouring Prof. G S Majgaonkar who started the Maharashtra Nature Art Style”.
The Bombay art society has started Roopdhar Lifetime Samman in the field of visual art since last Eighteen years. This year, one of the great artists Prof. G S Majgaonkar has been conferred with Roopdhar lifetime achievement award which carries citation and one Lakh rupees cash as a token of love. The Roopadhar lifetime achievement award was conferred on Prof. G S Majgaonkar on at the time of inauguration of the annual art exhibition.
Monica Ghule, who works in figurative style bagged this year’s Bendre-Husain scholarship whereas Swanil Godse, sculptor who works in metals got him The Sangital Jindal Scholarship. The Sandhya Misra Scholarship is presented jointly this year to Kandula Pradeep Kumar, sculptor and Madan Pawar, artist for their unique artworks.
Kishor Ingale’s abstract in Acrylic colour on canvas attracted the judge’s attention, making him winner of this year’s highest prize, the Governor’s Award which carries rupees one lakh in cash and certificate. The Bombay Art Society gold medal which carried rupees fifty-one thousand cash, certificate and gold medal is gone to Siddhesh Thakur for his stunning sculpture. The artworks of Akshita Gandhi, Parimal Vaghela, Abhijit Kumbhar, Anuradha Tambe, Nagnath Ghodke, Kinnari Tondlekar and Nishikant Palande submitted for the exhibition outshine and own them various awards which were presented at Jehangir Art Gallery. This year the award-winning entries include artists from various cities in Maharashtra, west Bengal, Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat whereas art students who won awards are from many cities in Maharashtra, Assam, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.
The BAS annual art exhibition started in 1888, the only art exhibition in India held continuously for 135 years is considered as the talent hunt contest in the country. The select 189 artworks hand-picked from total 2500 entries received from all over India through highly refined selection process involving art experts at every stage of selection are presented in this exhibition. The artworks of four scholarship awardees are also displayed in the exhibition.