Pakhal Tirumal Reddy
Encyclopedia
Pakhal Tirumal Reddy (also spelled as Pakala Tirumal Reddy) known as P T Reddy was an Indian artist. Born to Ram Reddy and Ramanamma as a fifth child in 4thJanuary 1915 at Annaram
village, Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh
, India
. He got his diploma in painting
from J. J. School of Art, Bombay (1939).He married Yashoda Reddy on May 9, 1947, with the help of P. T. Reddy, she went ahead with her studies and completed M. A. and Ph.D. and she authored over 22 compilations and novels.
” of Europe
in India. P T Reddy formed a group of ‘Bombay Contemporary India Artists,’ branded as‘Young Turks’, in 1941. Notably, this group of five painters was formed six years before the famous ‘Progressive Artists' Group’ formed in Bombay in 1947. P T Reddy started with realistic style and at the end of the 1930s, Reddy showed his original style, influenced both by traditional India paintings on one side and Post-Impressionist
style on the other. The process of integration continued with various ‘isms’ appearing in his work. He worked with great passion, spending long hours in his studio, creating works in water colour, oils
, etching
s and sculpture
s. His body of sculptures remain best works even till date. P T Reddy’s Srichakra engraving on Aventurine
stone is probably one of the best hand made spherical engraving Srichakra in the world. Traditional Sri Yantra form: an architectonic square frame housing a series of circular lotus forms, culminating in the centre with the overlapping triangles of the yantra itself. He added to this foundation a Devanagari
‘sri’ in the centre, re-emphasizing both his title and the form of the yantra. Finally, two figures overlay the Sri Yantra, their heads opposite one another at top and bottom, their bodies joined in sexual union in the centre. Reddy arranged their arms in a circular fashion reinforcing the lotus form, but their legs are not symmetrical: the legs of the bottom figure form a ‘V’ with the feet flanking the head of the top figure while the legs of the upper figure bend at the knees and splay outward, echoing the two directions of the triangle of the Sri Yantra. About 1970, P T Reddy began painting Tantric themes from Indian mythology
. In P T Reddy's work, we see connections and parallels to a wide range of other neo-Tantric artists, including G. R. Santosh (1929–1997). S.H. Raza
(b. 1922, Mahirwan Mamtani
(b. 1935) and Biren De (b. 1926), and thus he serves as a good entry point and guide to the works of Indian Artists.
in 1947, many Indian artists, including Reddy re-examined India’s own art traditions. His work began growing more abstract and started to reflect Buddhist
, Hindu
and Tantric symbols and structures. Many of his works, however, are secular, modern abstractions that echo their original religious sources.P T Reddy engages in dialogue with contemporary life and politics, as the moon landing
series shows, along with his Nehru series and other works touching on poverty
, labor movements, and the social changes wrought by India's Independence in 1947. Because of his use of the neo-Tantric idiom, his explorations of historical concerns such as these become dehistoricized and abstracted. Thus, through P T Reddy's work, that for artists struggling with being both modern and Indian in the 1960s and 1970s, neo-Tantric imagery provided one solution, indicating a path through the abstraction/representation bind and retaining both a universality of form and a specificity of national identity
.
. He was a prolific painter and sculptor; his works have been exhibited in U.K., U.S.A., USSR, Sweden, Switzerland and Greece; Represented in the collection of Royal Palace, London, N.G.M.A., New Delhi, and many other institutions. P T Reddy's famous books were, Portfolio of Drawings, Paintings and Sculptures in 1941, Contemporary Painters in 1941, 40 Drawings in 1941 and Kiss Volume I in 1968. St.Mary College of Maryland has a remarkable collection of works by P T Reddy in the Boyden Art Gallery.
P T Reddy worked with utmost passion, spending long hours in his studio and creating works in water colour, oils, etchings and sculptures. P T Reddy‘s major work was done during the freedom struggle, and then during the muscle-flexing that occurred while the Indian diaspora was building its own identity. His versatility and genius is reflected in the diverse themes, medium and colors that he used to gloss his art with. P T Reddy produced around 3000 paintings in his lifetime. He died in the year 1996 and is survived by his daughter Mrs.Lakshmi Reddy who is an artist as well. She now runs the Sudharma Art Gallery, left behind by her father Mr.P.T.Reddy, in Hyderabad along with her husband and her two children.
1940 First solo exhb., Bombay Art Society Salon, Bombay.
1943 Solo exhibition, Bombay Art Society Salon, Bombay.
1955 Annual exhibition, Hyderabad.
1956 Solo exhibition, Bombay.
1957 Solo exhibition, All India Industrial Exhb. Grounds, Hyderabad.
1968 1st International Triennale, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1976 Retrospective, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan and Sudharma Modern Art Gallery, Hyderabad.
1983 Solo exhibition on Tantra, West Germany.
1985-86 Neo Tantra: Contemporary Indian Painting, Fredrick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles.
2004 Manifestations II, organised by Delhi Art Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.
Air India Exhibitions in Australia
British Art Festival
U K British Prints Biennale U K
Art Exhibition in Japan
, London.
J.J. School of Art, Mumbai.
Rashtrapati Bhavan
, New Delhi.
College of Art, New Delhi.
Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad.
Lalit Kala Akademi
, Hyderabad.
Lalit Kala Akademi
, New Delhi.
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Parliament House
, New Delhi.
Tata Fundamental Research Institute, Mumbai.
Boyden Gallery ..St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Annaram
Annaram is a village in Jinnaram Mandal in Medak district in Andhra Pradesh State in India. It is 33 km distance from Hyderabad, the main city of the state. It is also home to Indian Air Force's, Air force academy, the training center which holds passing out parade and training of commissioned...
village, Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He got his diploma in painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
from J. J. School of Art, Bombay (1939).He married Yashoda Reddy on May 9, 1947, with the help of P. T. Reddy, she went ahead with her studies and completed M. A. and Ph.D. and she authored over 22 compilations and novels.
Work
P T Reddy was one of the key artists who played a significant role in introducing and the evolution of the so called “Modern ArtModern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
” of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in India. P T Reddy formed a group of ‘Bombay Contemporary India Artists,’ branded as‘Young Turks’, in 1941. Notably, this group of five painters was formed six years before the famous ‘Progressive Artists' Group’ formed in Bombay in 1947. P T Reddy started with realistic style and at the end of the 1930s, Reddy showed his original style, influenced both by traditional India paintings on one side and Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
style on the other. The process of integration continued with various ‘isms’ appearing in his work. He worked with great passion, spending long hours in his studio, creating works in water colour, oils
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
, etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s. His body of sculptures remain best works even till date. P T Reddy’s Srichakra engraving on Aventurine
Aventurine
Aventurine is a form of quartz, characterised by its translucency and the presence of platy mineral inclusions that give a shimmering or glistening effect termed aventurescence....
stone is probably one of the best hand made spherical engraving Srichakra in the world. Traditional Sri Yantra form: an architectonic square frame housing a series of circular lotus forms, culminating in the centre with the overlapping triangles of the yantra itself. He added to this foundation a Devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
‘sri’ in the centre, re-emphasizing both his title and the form of the yantra. Finally, two figures overlay the Sri Yantra, their heads opposite one another at top and bottom, their bodies joined in sexual union in the centre. Reddy arranged their arms in a circular fashion reinforcing the lotus form, but their legs are not symmetrical: the legs of the bottom figure form a ‘V’ with the feet flanking the head of the top figure while the legs of the upper figure bend at the knees and splay outward, echoing the two directions of the triangle of the Sri Yantra. About 1970, P T Reddy began painting Tantric themes from Indian mythology
Indian mythology
Indian mythology may refer to:*Indian epic poetry*Vedic mythology*Hindu mythology*Buddhist mythology*Native American mythology...
. In P T Reddy's work, we see connections and parallels to a wide range of other neo-Tantric artists, including G. R. Santosh (1929–1997). S.H. Raza
S.H. Raza
Syed Haider Raza Alias S.H. Raza is an eminent Indian artist who has lived and worked in France since 1950, but maintains strong ties with India....
(b. 1922, Mahirwan Mamtani
Mahirwan Mamtani
Mahirwan Mamtani is painter, graphic and multimedia artist.Mamtani grew up in India, studied there and moved 1966 to Germany, where he had been awarded a scholarship by DAAD to study painting at the Kunstakademie...
(b. 1935) and Biren De (b. 1926), and thus he serves as a good entry point and guide to the works of Indian Artists.
Style
P T Reddy’s paintings from the 1940s were showing struggle to maintain his identity as Indian by choosing subject matters that were undeniably Indian, yet depicted in a variety of modern European styles. After independenceIndian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
in 1947, many Indian artists, including Reddy re-examined India’s own art traditions. His work began growing more abstract and started to reflect Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Tantric symbols and structures. Many of his works, however, are secular, modern abstractions that echo their original religious sources.P T Reddy engages in dialogue with contemporary life and politics, as the moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
series shows, along with his Nehru series and other works touching on poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, labor movements, and the social changes wrought by India's Independence in 1947. Because of his use of the neo-Tantric idiom, his explorations of historical concerns such as these become dehistoricized and abstracted. Thus, through P T Reddy's work, that for artists struggling with being both modern and Indian in the 1960s and 1970s, neo-Tantric imagery provided one solution, indicating a path through the abstraction/representation bind and retaining both a universality of form and a specificity of national identity
National identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
.
Awards and honors
P T Reddy Won Dolly Cursetji award for murals ; Fellowship Govt. of India; 'Asthana chitrakar' of A. P. Govt. and member of General Board of ICCRIndian Council for Cultural Relations
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations , is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples...
. He was a prolific painter and sculptor; his works have been exhibited in U.K., U.S.A., USSR, Sweden, Switzerland and Greece; Represented in the collection of Royal Palace, London, N.G.M.A., New Delhi, and many other institutions. P T Reddy's famous books were, Portfolio of Drawings, Paintings and Sculptures in 1941, Contemporary Painters in 1941, 40 Drawings in 1941 and Kiss Volume I in 1968. St.Mary College of Maryland has a remarkable collection of works by P T Reddy in the Boyden Art Gallery.
P T Reddy worked with utmost passion, spending long hours in his studio and creating works in water colour, oils, etchings and sculptures. P T Reddy‘s major work was done during the freedom struggle, and then during the muscle-flexing that occurred while the Indian diaspora was building its own identity. His versatility and genius is reflected in the diverse themes, medium and colors that he used to gloss his art with. P T Reddy produced around 3000 paintings in his lifetime. He died in the year 1996 and is survived by his daughter Mrs.Lakshmi Reddy who is an artist as well. She now runs the Sudharma Art Gallery, left behind by her father Mr.P.T.Reddy, in Hyderabad along with her husband and her two children.
Exhibitions
1941 First group exhb., Contemporary Painters of Bombay, Bombay.1940 First solo exhb., Bombay Art Society Salon, Bombay.
1943 Solo exhibition, Bombay Art Society Salon, Bombay.
1955 Annual exhibition, Hyderabad.
1956 Solo exhibition, Bombay.
1957 Solo exhibition, All India Industrial Exhb. Grounds, Hyderabad.
1968 1st International Triennale, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1976 Retrospective, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan and Sudharma Modern Art Gallery, Hyderabad.
1983 Solo exhibition on Tantra, West Germany.
1985-86 Neo Tantra: Contemporary Indian Painting, Fredrick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles.
2004 Manifestations II, organised by Delhi Art Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.
International Exhibitions
Triennale IndiaAir India Exhibitions in Australia
British Art Festival
U K British Prints Biennale U K
Art Exhibition in Japan
Collections
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
, London.
J.J. School of Art, Mumbai.
Rashtrapati Bhavan
Rashtrapati Bhavan
The Rashtrapati Bhavan or The Official Residence of the Head of the State is the official residence of the President of India, located at Raisina hill in New Delhi, India. Until 1950 it was known as "Viceroy's House" and served as the residence of the Viceroy and Governor-General of India...
, New Delhi.
College of Art, New Delhi.
Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad.
Lalit Kala Akademi
Lalit Kala Akademi
The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art is India's National Academy of Arts. It was an autonomous organization, established at New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country...
, Hyderabad.
Lalit Kala Akademi
Lalit Kala Akademi
The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art is India's National Academy of Arts. It was an autonomous organization, established at New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country...
, New Delhi.
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Parliament House
Parliament House
Parliament House is the name of the seat of Parliament in a number of jurisdictions:-Australia:Commonwealth Parliament* Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia* Old Parliament House, CanberraState and Territory Parliaments...
, New Delhi.
Tata Fundamental Research Institute, Mumbai.
Boyden Gallery ..St. Mary’s College of Maryland
External links
- http://www.iias.nl/nl/31/IIAS_NL31_42.pdf
- http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14560384_ITM
- http://qualityproducx.com/TeluguArts/ArtsPage/p%20t%20reddy1.html
- http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/10/26/stories/2007102650530300.htm
- http://www.sriyantraresearch.com/pictures/Spherical/spherical_sri_yantra_pictures.htm
- http://ilovehyderabad.com/entertainment/art-gallery/painter-pakala-tirumala-reddy-p-t-reddy-.html
- http://pakhaltirumalreddy.blogspot.com/
- http://www.delhiartgallery.com/artist/profile-p-t-reddy.aspx
Sources
- http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-pag.asp
- Appasamy, Jaya, ‘The Painters of the Transition’, 25 Years of Indian Art
- A history of Indian painting: the modern period By Krishna Chaitanya PP.261,279
- Painting Sculpture & Graphics in the Post-Independence Era, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, (1972), pp. 6–9.
- Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe, Princeton: Princeton University Press, (2000).
- eeta Kapur|Kapur, Geeta], ‘When Was Modernism in Indian Art?’: When Was Modernism? New Delhi: Tulika, (2000), pp. 297–323.
- Mookerjee, Ajit, Tantra Art: Its Philosophy and Physics, New Delhi:Ravi Kumar, (1966).http://www.amazon.com/Tantra-Art-Its-Philosophy-Physics/dp/8171672582
- http://openlibrary.org/books/OL2828821M/40_years_of_P.T._Reddy's_art.
- http://www.minusspace.com/tag/pt-reddy/
- http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=4777573&sid=b527262f-e9c9-43e5-bd77-3e1f4721f7af