Tamarind Art Council is pleased to announce ’Metamorphic Medium’, a talk by eminent photographer Pablo Bartholomew who will present his father Richard Bartholomew’s photographic oeuvre and discuss continuing aesthetic lineage in his own work on March 18, 2009 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Pablo will trace the influences that are not just process for artisans passed on from one generation to other, but a much deeper engagement to work out issues and questions of roots and identity.
Richard Bartholomew (1926-1985), acclaimed writer, painter, curator, and art critic, rarely exhibited his photographic work during his lifetime. During the 1960s and 70s, he keenly photographed life as it revolved around him – his immediate family, his travels in India as well as the United States, and his intertwined relationship with fellow members of the art world.
Born in India, Pablo Bartholomew’s photographic career began in his teens. Since becoming a photojournalist in 1983, his work has appeared in major news publications, including Time, News week, Paris Match and The Guardian. Pablo has worked with leading film directors/producers, including Merchant/Ivory and Richard Attenborough. Having a strong belief in the exhibition space, he widely exhibited in India and internationally through one person shows museum shows and photo festivals.
The talk is free and open to public.
To attend RSVP to rsvp@tamarindarts.org or call 212-200-8000 press “0” for the operator.
Tamarind Art Council is located at 142 E. 39th Street, New York, NY, 10016.
Richard Bartholomew:
Born in Tavoy, Burma, Richard Bartholomew fled to India during the Second World War to escape the Japanese capture of Burma. He received a Master’s degree in English from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi in 1950. His major literary works include articles on Indian and Tibetan art, contemporary Indian art and the Indian experience, as well as poems, monographs, short stories, a co-authored book on M.F. Husain, published in 1972 by Harry Abrams, New York, and a monograph on Krishna Reddy in 1974.
From 1960 to 1963 Bartholomew was the Gallery Director of Kunika–Chemould, the first commercial gallery for contemporary art in New Delhi. Subsequently he worked with the Tibet House, New Delhi, from 1966 to 1973 as their curator and development officer where he personally catalogued the Dalai Lama’s collection of religious artifacts, traveling with them to the US and Japan. From 1977 to 1985 Bartholomew served as the Secretary of the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's prestigious national academy of art. Among his other many honors and achievements are a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1970; Commissioner of the Silver Jubilee Indian Independence exhibition held in Washington DC, 1973; a British Council Visitor in 1982; and Commissioner of the Art Exhibition of the Festival of India, held in Britain in 1982.
Pablo Bartholomew:
Pablo has photographed societies in transition in different locations. He won the World Press Photo award for his series Morphine Addicts in India (1975) and the World Press Picture of the Year for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984). He has taken part in several international exhibitions & published in New York Times, Newsweek, Time, National Geographic and Geo amongst other prestigious magazines & journals. Previously worked with the photo agency Gamma – Liaison for over 20 years now is an independent photographer.
His first one person exhibition was in 1979 in New Delhi and followed in 1980 in Bombay which dealt with imaging the fringe and the marginal world that he lived and traversed in.
His exhibition, OUTSIDE IN. 70’s & 80’s, A TALE OF 3 CITIES… is a visual diary of his teenage work was shown at the Rencontres d’Arles, July 2007 followed by the National Museum, New Delhi 2008 and at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. 2008
In 1999 he showed is work on the Naga tribes at the Crafts Museum, New Delhi and in 2001 at the Musee de L’Homme, Paris which now showing at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
About Tamarind Art Council
Tamarind Art Council (TAC) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting contemporary art in North America. Our focus is to support all types of artistic expression, including performing and fine arts, by sponsoring art-related activities and cross-cultural events in order to expand the audience for art and culture.
Our mission: Tamarind Art Council exemplifies how life can revolve around the arts. Our mission is to inspire the work of contemporary artists and performers and to facilitate public appreciation for these unique cultural art forms. Some of our events include art exhibitions, performing arts, book launches, lectures and other cultural programs. As part of our on-going efforts, we support art museums, cultural communities and not-for-profit organizations around the globe. Tamarind Art has become a nexus for many art organizations and is a resource center for gaining an understanding of all forms of art, artists, and other areas of interest to individuals, businesses and art investors.
Tamarind Art Council is proud to announce our sponsorship of The Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) film screening “INDIA NOW,” a bi-annual program launched in 2007 that will be presented at the museum again in June 2009.
Other sponsorships have included Festival of India with WMI featuring Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Husain, Masters of Indian Music – Rahul Sharma & Zakir Husain with WMI in November 2007, Prema Murthy’s Fuzzy Logic Exhibition at P.S. 1 MoMA from June – September 2007, and the Contemporary Photography and Video Art exhibition “India Public Places/Private Spaces” held at the Newark Museum of Art from September 2007 – January 2008.
Our most successful and well-received exhibition, entitled “Gandhi: The Legacy,” was held in 2008 in collaboration with Phillip Glass Opera and Satya Graha Forum. The photography exhibition captured a nostalgic view of Gandhi’s true legacy. It was displayed from April 10th – May 3rd.
For more information about Tamarind Art Council, please visit our website at www.tamarindarts.org
Tamarind Art Council is located at 142 E. 39th Street, New York, NY, 10016. Contact us by calling (212)200-8000 or emailing admin@tamarindarts.org