William Hodges – Views of India
Paper Alchemy: Tracing Memories Through Time marks a milestone as Great Banyan Art unveils its private collection of works on paper for the first time. Showcasing over 100 exceptional works from the 18th to 21st century, this exhibition explores the deep connection between paper as a medium and artistic expression in India. Paper Alchemy brings together works by 40 artists who have shaped Indian art across generations. From rare Oriental aquatints by Thomas and William Daniell, James Prinsep, William Hodges, to modern pioneers like M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, H.A. Gade, Ramkinkar Baij, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Rabin Mondal, Ganesh Haloi, and Avinash Chandra, the exhibition bridges historical traditions with contemporary voices such as Atul Dodiya, Anju Dodiya, Jagannath Panda, Rameshwar Broota, Amit Ambalal, Anupam Sud and many more. Through this delicate yet resilient material, the exhibition highlights paper’s ability to preserve stories, evoke memories, and serve as a powerful medium for artistic exploration.
Atul Dodiya – Ancestor with black pot
A.H Muller -Village Scene
Maniklal Banerjee – Untitled
Paper, by its very nature, is a paradox of fragility and resilience. It crumples, stains, and fades, yet it withstands the passage of time, preserving the imprints of history. It absorbs pigment instantly, yet that very absorption becomes a lasting record—capturing artistic gestures, histories, and even the most profound human experiences. This duality is what makes paper so compelling in artistic practice, an ideal medium for storytelling, where ink, graphite, and washes of colour transform into traces of memory.
1946-image
A.A. Almelkar – Untitled
Over centuries, artists have harnessed paper into a powerful medium, bridging fleeting memories with lasting visual narratives. Tracing its origins in the Indian subcontinent, paper arrived from China in the 12th century, introduced through Persian and Arab influences. Initially used for illuminated manuscripts and religious texts, it soon became an integral part of Indian artistic traditions.
Amit Ambalal
The Mughal era (16th-19th centuries) elevated paper as the primary surface for courtly miniature paintings, enabling artists to create intricate works that documented history, mythology, and daily life with remarkable precision. With the colonial encounter came new printmaking techniques—such as aquatint, lithography, and etching—expanding the artistic possibilities of paper. The Company School (late 18th–19th century) exemplified this cross-cultural exchange, as Indian artists adapted Western watercolor and perspective techniques to create meticulous depictions of flora, fauna, and local culture. In response to colonial academic realism, the Bengal School emerged in the early 20th century under the visionary leadership of Abanindranath Tagore. Advocating revivalist aesthetics and traditional wash painting techniques from the East, these works sought to evoke nostalgia and fading histories—using paper as a means to preserve the past, even as time wore it away.
Thomas Daniel – Old Court House and Street, Calcutta
As India transitioned into modernity by the mid-20th century, the Progressive Artists’ Group—formed in the wake of independence—redefined the potential of paper, using it as a medium for modernist abstraction, social critique, and political engagement. During this period, printmaking also flourished, with artists expanding their expressive range through etching and serigraphy. Today, contemporary Indian artists continue to push the boundaries of paper, transforming its inherent qualities into powerful statements on identity, history, and cultural change.
Expanding on this legacy, this carefully curated selection spans major movements in Indian art—including the Company School, the Bengal School, the Progressive Artists’ Group, the Madras Art Movement, and Contemporary practices—providing a rare opportunity to witness the evolution of artistic engagement with paper across generations and aesthetic philosophies. The exhibition showcases the remarkable versatility of paper through diverse techniques including watercolour, gouache, tempera, acrylic, lithography, etching, aquatint, serigraphy, and photography. This technical diversity showcases how artists have continuously pushed paper’s potential—whether through the delicate transparency of watercolour, the bold graphic intensity of printmaking, or the textured depth of mixed media approaches.
Rabin Mondal – Untitled (1988)
Ramkinkar Baij – Untitled
At its heart, Paper Alchemy celebrates storytelling through a medium that captures the fleeting nature of memory, the fragility of history, and the depth of human emotion. Through figuration, abstraction, and landscape traditions, these works offer glimpses into artistic responses to cultural, social, and political shifts across centuries. The exhibition is designed to highlight paper’s dual role—both as a medium for experimentation and as a bridge between historical techniques and transnational modernism. Its immediacy lends these works a sense of intimacy, where delicacy and strength coexist, transforming lived experiences into lasting visual narratives that go beyond mere representation.
Jagannath Panda – Desire Scape
Mukul Dey -Thrashing flour, Hazaribagh
Prosonto Roy
Paper Alchemy invites viewers to explore broader questions about materiality in art: How does something so fragile endure across centuries? What stories does it carry forward? How do artists transform limitations into opportunities for innovation? By juxtaposing historical and contemporary works, Paper Alchemy creates an immersive dialogue between the past and present.
Title: Paper Alchemy: Tracing Memories Through Time
Exhibition Dates: 25th – 30th April 2025
Venue: Bikaner House, CCA, New Delhi
Timings: Monday to Saturday, 11 AM – 7 PM
