Under the vastness of the sky

HIMMAT SHAH | A Retrospective / across six decades

2 April 2019 - 2 June 2019

Curated by Roobina Karode

Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna Bihar 800001

This exhibition is a celebration of Himmat Shah’s solitary pursuit and inspiring nomadic life lived under an open sky that transformed into a recurrent poetic metaphor of the vastness and infinity of space in his work. It celebrates his prolific and rich oeuvre which will be presented in the public domain in its entirety. Having lived in Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Delhi, Himmat Shah now lives in Jaipur since 2000. Tracing and underlining Himmat Shah’s contribution to the discourse of modern Indian art, the exhibition presents around 200 works from the KNMA collection along with loans from the artist. Besides his famous terracotta sculptures, bronzes, and drawings, it brings to light his lesser-known mediums and extraordinary body of works—high-relief murals, burnt paper collages, prints and silver paintings. ‘under the vastness of the sky’ highlights key ideas in Himmat Shah’s works: fragility and transience of existence, the heightened relationship between ephemeral layers and stasis, his intense connect and understanding of the materials and material world, and echoes of lost civilizations and cultures.