In a world obsessed in exhibiting, collecting, and celebrating creativity, one glaring omission is the life and works of India’s Rennaisance Man - Dashrath Patel
An artist from L’Ecole Beaux Arts, who shared the studios at the Bhulabhai Desai Institute with his contemporaries Husain, Raza, Gaitonde, Padamsee and Nasreen Mohamedi, he is not even listed in a single book on Contemporary Indian Art.
He was the Founder Director of Education of NID Ahmedabad, the world’s longest surviving dedicated design school. Here, while training the teaching staff for one whole decade, Dashrath interacted with luminaries like Eames, Frei Otto, Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Yet, strangely, he is neither shown in any curated International Exhibition nor in any popular media listing of “cool picks” or “hot talents”.
Photographer Henri Cartier Bresson saw Dashrath’s potential and invited him to apprentice with him for several years. Using his new skills, Dashrath, rather than searching for the prefect shot, built up a visual essay on the evolution of our Nation. Not on any photographers’ lists either.
He innovated multiple screen projections for the India Pavillion, New York World Fair. He designed all the major exhibitions on the arts, crafts and public figures like Gandhi and Nehru. Dashrath dared to visualize and execute the dramatic openings of the Festivals of India in France and USSR using thousands of craftsmen and performers, on a public scale for a global audience. No national records.
The Mystery, The Discovery and The Understanding of Dashrath Patel will unfold through this exhibition.
Pinakin
