Raghav Kaneria

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Raghav Kaneria

Raghav Kaneria MA, A.R.C.A (b.1936), is a sculptor, photographer, and fine art professor. He is regarded as a major figure in the world of Indian art and viewed as one of the pioneers of Modern art movement in post independent India. Founding member and only sculptor in Group 1890, his artistic works have been exhibited at many prominent group shows and venues across the globe

Kaneria is a recipient of numerous national and international awards. His art creations can be found in prestigious public and private collections such as Arts Council Collection (Great Britain), Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, England), Royal College of Art (London, England), National Gallery of Modern Art (India), Ministry of Education (Govt. of India, New Delhi), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (India), Salar Jung Museum (India), Birla Academy Museum (Kolkata, India), Subhash Chandra Bose Park (Kochi, India)Air India's art collection, Lalitkala Akademi (New Delhi) and others.

• As a sculptor, Kaneria is best known for his modernist work. His experiments involving metals in various shapes and forms, and use of industrial techniques like welding and wax casting helped pave way for next generation of sculptors to venture further into metal realm and develop their own techniques. . Besides metal he has also done extensive work in terracotta, wood, stone, cement and mix media.

• As a photographer, Kaneria is recognized for his extensive documentation of the Indian folk-art scene, the tribal traditions, visual culture and lifestyle.

• In the academia, as fine art teacher, Kaneria has coached, mentored and influenced numerous national and international art scholars.His work has also drawn attention of art historians and scholars making him subject of academic research projects and study material.

Early Life & Education

Raghav Kaneria was born on 19th March 1936 into a very ordinary farming family in a small and remote village Anida, in Saurashtra, British India, now Rajkot district in State of Gujarat. His early schooling up to 7th grade occurred at his local village school. For grades 8 to 11, Kaneria went to boarding school, Sangramsinhji High School also known as Sagramji High School, at a nearby town, Gondal.

Kaneria joined the Sculpture department, Faculty of Fine Arts in Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (now Vadodara, Gujarat State) in 1959. And graduated with 1st class, Diploma in Sculpture. India was entering a new era post-independence, where Indian art and cultural activities were supported and promoted by the government. Kaneria was awarded Cultural Scholarship by The Government of India to study under tutelage of eclectic artist Professor Sankho Chaudhuri from 1960 to 1962.

In the year 1964, Kaneria received the Commonwealth Scholarship awarded by British Government to study at Royal College of Art, London, England. In 1967, he was awarded A. R. C. A. and in 1968, an M. A. (Arts) from Royal College of Art, London, England. During this period, Kaneria had opportunity to study under Professor Bernard Meadows.

Style

During the post world war era of 1950s, the movement of abstract art was in vogue. Abstract art, considered as one of the pious forms in expressing one-self without any detailed illustration of reality. It uses a perceptible language such as shapes, line, form and gestural marks to create a beauty which may persist with a degree of freedom from visual references in the world.

Initial creations of Raghav Kaneria allow one to see with mind what can't be seen physically through eyes. Abstract art enabled him to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.

The introduction and application of the everyday resources broke away from the usual ideas of modeling and traditional materials such as clay, plaster, marble, or bronze. The idea that a sculpture could be made as an assemblage of objects utilizing discarded industrial metal scrap, gathered from factory debris piles, his monumental assemblages involved a process influenced by the concept of the "ready-mades". Purposefully selected for their potential to call to mind the forms of the city, nature and the celestial bodies, these metal objects were subsequently carefully arranged to create original narratives.

Kaneria is viewed by many as the pioneer of larger scale metal sculptures and paving the way for industrial welding techniques in the field of sculpting (Growth series, Bull at Subhash Park, Water Carrier at Fitzwilliam Museum).

Kaneria's love for tribal culture, folk and visual arts prompted him to pick up photography and travel across India visiting remote areas documenting local traditions, culture and way of life.

Career

Academic Achievements

• 1^st class, Diploma in Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Baroda, India. (1959)
• Recipient of Cultural Scholarship awarded by Government of India to study under Prof. Sankho Chaudhuri at Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India. (1960 - 1962)
• Recipient of Commonwealth Scholarship awarded by British Government to study at Royal College of Art, London, England. (1964 - 1967)
• A. R. C. A. from Royal College of Art, London, England. (1967)
• M. A. (Art) from Royal College of Arts, London, England. (1968)
• Faculty member, Department of Sculpture, Walthamstow School of Art, London, England. (1967 - 1969)
• Recipient of Visiting Foreign Artist Fellowship award. Faculty member, Department of Sculpture, Hull College of Art, England. (1972)
• Faculty member, Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. (1970 - 1996)
• Professor, Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. (1985 - 1996)
• Department Chair, Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. (1983 - 1991)

• Recipient of Senior Fellowship awarded by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi, India. (1996 - 1998)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India. (2023)

Selected Honours & Awards (Sculpture)

• National Award of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India. (1959)

• Tamra Patra of Bombay State Art Exhibition, Pune, India. (1959)
• Silver Medal of All India Sculptor’s Association, Mumbai, India. (1960)

• Tamra Patra of Bombay State Art Exhibition, Ahmedabad, India. (1960)
• Governor’s Prize of Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India. (1960)
• President of India’s Silver Plaque of All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi, India. (1960)
• Silver Medal of Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India. (1960)
• Prize of Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India. (1961)
• 1^st Prize at Gujarat State Arts Exhibition, Surat, India. (1961)
• Gold Medal of Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India. (1962)
• The Mouj Printing Bureau’s prize of Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India. (1962)
• National Award of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India. (1963)
• Sir Robert Sainsbury Award, London. (1967)
• Gaurav Puraskar - Felicitation as an eminent artist by Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy, Ahmedabad, India. (1997)
• Felicitation by All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society of New Delhi, India. (1999)
• Kala Ratna Award from All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society of New Delhi, India. (2001)
• Kala Ratna Award from Gujarat Kala Prathisthan, Surat, India. (2012)
• Kalidas Samman Award from Madhya Pradesh Government, Bhopal. India. (2013)
• Felicitated as leading Indian Artist by Society of Contemporary Artists, Kolkata, India. (2015)
• Felicitation by Gujarat Kala Pratisthan, Surat, India (2016)
• Honorable mention: Metal by Georgetown Arts & Culture Board, Georgetown, Texas, USA. (2022)

Selected Honours & Awards (Photography)

• Bronze Medal of Nikon Photo Contest International, Tokyo, Japan. (1976)
• Bronze Medal of Nikon Photo Contest International, Tokyo, Japan. (1977)
• Prize of SHAISHAV, an exhibition for the International Year of Children. (1979)
• Yakult Prize of 6^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific by A.C.C. of UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan. (1981)
• Prize of Family of India, a national photo exhibition on life in India, Calcutta, India. (1981)
• Gra-Pix Shield and Top Prize of 7^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific by A.C.C of UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan. (1982)
• Yakult Prize of 8^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific by A.C.C. of UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan. (1983)
• Sunpak Prize of 9^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific by A.C.C. of UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan. (1984)
• Okamoto Prize of 13^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific by A.C.C. of UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan. (1988)

Selected Workshops & Demonstrations

• Metal casting workshop, Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda, India (2016)
• Artist Demonstration, Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda, India (2016)

Selected Shows & Exhibitions

• Bombay State Art Exhibition, Pune, India. (1959)
• Biennale de Paris, Paris, France. (1959)
• Commonwealth Art Exhibition, London, England. (1960)
• One-man show, Mumbai (Bombay), India. (1963)
• Group Show, GROUP 1890, New Delhi, India. (1963)
• Expo 67, Montreal, Canada. (1967)
• Group Show at Burlington House, Loudwater, England. (1968)
• 13 Middelheim Sculpture Biennial. Antwerp, Belgium. (1975)
• Third Triennale-India, Lalitkala Akademi, New Delhi, India. (1975)
• Traveling Exhibition, on display at Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Sofia, Tehran, Damascus & Baghdad. (1978)
• Asia Artist Exhibition, Part I by Funaoka Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. (1979)
• Bernard Meadows at the Royal College of Arts 1960 – 1980 by the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge, England. (1980)
• Exhibition in Festival of Indian on the Living Art of India by Art Council of Great Britain. On display at the Serpentine Art Gallery London. As well as in Cardiff, Glasgow, Bradford and Sheffield. (1981)
• Indian Sculpture Today: 1983, an exhibition by Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India. (1983)
• One-man Show, Mumbai, India. (1984)
• Traveling exhibition of 6^th, 7^th, 8^th,9^th and 13^th Photo Contest in Asia and Pacific in major cities of Japan, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives and India. (1982 - 1985, 1989)
• Contemporary Printmaking: India, Festival of India in USA. (1986)
• Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Berne, Switzerland. (1987)
• Museum of Ethnology, Colone, Germany. (1987)
• Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne. (1987)
• Musee of Trade, Zurich, Switzerland. (1987)
• Ottobrunn, Germany. (1987)
• Art Council Exhibition, Frankfurt, Germany. (1988)
• Pratibimb: Festival of India in Russia, at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia. (1988)
• Two-man Show, Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi, India. (1990)
• 7^th Triennial India, New Delhi, India. (1991)
• Festival of India in Germany. (1991)
• The Other Way of Seeing at Museum Voor Volkenkunde, Rotterdam, Holland. (1992)
• 2^nd International Photo Festival of Child and Young Adult, Soreh Photo, Tehran, Iran. (1993)
• Hundred Years from the NGMA Collection (1994)
• Group Show at Ohio University, Ohio, USA. (1995)
• Group Show at Iowa University, Iowa, USA. (1995)
• Group Show by the Birla Academy of Arts and Culture at Century Bhuvan, Mumbai, India. (1995)
• Eminent Artist Group Show by the Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Calcutta, India. (1996)
• Two man Show at Admit One Gallery, New York, USA. (2000)
• Fingerprint: Digital Prints and Films, Red Earth Art Gallery, Vadodara, India (2006)
• Invited Artist at Central Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, India. (2015)
• Group 1890, India's Indigenous Modernism, a group show at DAG Modern, New Delhi, India. (2016)
• India Art Fair, DAG Modern, New Delhi, India. (2017)
• 11^th Annual Exhibition of Texas Association of Sculptors, Austin, USA. (2018)
• One-man show at Rukshaan Art Gallery, Mumbai, India. (2019)
• The Art of India, an exhibition by Times of India Group. (2022)
• 14^th Annual Exhibition of Texas Association of Sculptors, Georgetown, Texas, USA. (2022)
• 16th Annual Texas Artists Coalition (TAC) Juried Exhibit, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. (2022)
• Hand-Crafted World: A photography exhibition celebrating life, culture and folk-art of 20th century India

Selected Public & Private Collections

• Art Council Collection, South Centre, England.

• Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge, England.

• Royal College of Art, London, England.

• National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India.
• Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, India.

• Rupankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bhopal, India.

• Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangaluru, India.

• Telangana State Archeological Museum, Hyderabad, India.

• Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India.
• Ministry of Education, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
• Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
• Air India's art collection, India.
• Mukand Iron & Steel Works Limited, Mumbai, India.
• Punjab University Museum, Chandigarh, India.
• Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, India.
• Subhash Chandra Bose Park, Municipal Corporation of Kochi, Cochin, India.
• United Phosphorus Limited (UPL), Mumbai, India.
• Private art collections across the globe (India, USA, England, Canada, France, Sweden).

Additional Resources

1. Ruchi (magazine) - Wikipedia
2. Ratilal Kansodaria : He sculpts reality to turn them into fantasy. (creativeyatra.com)
3. Search | Asia Art Archive (aaa.org.hk)
4. Twentieth Century Indian Sculpture

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