Bauhaus in Calcutta. An Encounter of cosmopolitian Avant-Gardes

In 1922, the Society of Oriental Art in Calcutta hosted an exhibition of the international avant-garde. The invited artists included numerous Bauhaus masters, such as Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Johannes Itten and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as representatives of the Indian avant-garde like Uma Prosad Mookerjee, Shanta Devi, Sunanyani Devi and Gaganendranath Tagore. What they shared was an artistic language of modernity which was oriented to cubism, primitivism and abstraction.
This project didn’t merely attempt to reconstruct this historic exhibition. Based on extensive research and original documents, newspapers, photos and films, it aimed to portray the political and historical context which gave rise to the exhibition in the postcolonial city of Calcutta. The goal was to present the transnational artistic interaction at the beginning of the 20th century which manifested itself in journals, travel routes, the art market and conferences, initiated by a globally-minded art community.
This exhibition wass jointly organized by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation together with Indian partners and the Goethe-Institut in Calcutta. It opened in Dessau in March 2013 to mark the 90th anniversary of the historic exhibition. In 2013, it was shown in Calcutta. The project organizers planned an extensive accompanying programme with lectures, tours and a school project.

Curatorial team: Regina Bittner, Ranjit Hoskote (IN), Kathrin Rhomberg, Partha Mitter
Research associate: Boris Friedewald, Sria Chatterjee