Vinod Dave as One of "India's Rockefeller Artists" Mega Exhibition

DAG Modern presents India’s Rockefeller Artists: An Indo-U.S. Cultural Saga in its New York gallery at 41 East 57th Street at the Fuller Building in Midtown, Manhattan. The exhibition, from Nov. 6, 2017 to March 2018, showcases iconic works of the Indian painters and sculptors who travelled to the US on grants enabled by John D. Rockefeller III’s philanthropic vision, first through the JDR 3rd Fund (1963–1979) and then through the Asian Cultural Council.

These artists were brought to the US to see and understand American art and also to share their own learnings and experiences through a cultural exchange that would enrich communities. The show examines why and how these artists were selected; their relationships with each other and the American art milieu; the impact of the experience on their body of work; and the creation of a community of Rockefeller artists.

The grant benefited some of India’s most important artists, among them V.S. Gaitonde, whose work formed the subject of a retrospective at the Guggenheim, New York, in 2013; Tyeb Mehta, one of the most widely collected artists in private and public collections; Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar, Bal Chhabda and Krishen Khanna, all associates of the then Bombay-based Progressive Artists’ Group. Natvar Bhavsar, Jyoti Bhatt, K.G. Subramanyan, A.M. Davierwala, Avinash Chandra, Arun Bose, Paritosh Sen, K.S. Kulkarni, Vinod Dave, Bhupen Khakhar and Rekha Rodwittiya were some of the others whose contribution to Indian art practice in the twentieth century has been seminal.

Vinod Dave was the first Indian artist to win this fellowship after the Rockefeller 3rd Fund became Asian Cultural Council. The name change for the foundation was required after Mr. Rockefeller's death. Mr. Rockefeller was personally financing the foundation and that stopped with his passing away. Asian Cultural Council, the new name for the foundation was coined to continue the same goals JDR 3rd Fund had but now with money raised from donors. So ACC became both grant seeking and grant giving institution. With the name Rockefeller associated with its old name, what donor would want to give money? Hence, the new name Asian Cultural Council.

This exhibition is accompanied by a 500-page publication. A product of extensive research from the Rockefeller and artists’ archives, the documentation includes interviews with the living artists and surviving family members of others, along with rare photographs. Published by DAG Modern, the catalogue tells the stories of India’s Rockefeller artists and their art as a testimony to JDR III’s impact on the Indian art landscape.

Attached are some images from the opening reception that took place on November 6, 2017. Also Vinod Dave's

works that are part of this.