New Delhi, April 10 From early European academic realism to modernist expression and contemporary reinterpretations, a group exhibition at Bikaner House here traces the evolution of the human face, revealing how the understanding of the self has shifted across eras.
"Portraits in Time: Power, Presence, and Identity Across Centuries" by Great Banyan Art brings together 50 works spanning centuries and geographies, featuring artists such as Krishen Khanna, F N Souza, Shobha Broota, Terry Turrell, Marie Shayans, and Edouard Frederic Wilhelm Richter.
Curated by Sonali Batra, the exhibition traces the evolution of the human face "as a site of expression, power, and memory, approaching portraiture not as a fixed genre but as an evolving inquiry into identity and visibility".
“What fascinates me about portraiture is how it transforms over time, from a symbol of authority to a space for psychological depth and personal expression. 'Portraits in Time' explores how identity is never fixed but constantly shaped by history, culture, and context,” Batra said.
Installed chronologically, the exhibition unfolds as a visual journey through time.
The exhibition features works produced by court ateliers across Mughal and regional kingdoms in India, where formal representation "reinforced legitimacy and preserved dynastic continuity" even as the painters remained anonymous.
Across Europe, portraiture developed within academies and studios where the artist’s reputation increasingly carried prestige alongside that of the sitter.
Artists such as Jean François Portaels, Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter, Hugues Merle, and Rose Bonnor exemplified a composed academic tradition in which dignity was articulated through posture, drapery, gesture, and gaze.
Within the Indian context, artists including K R Ravi Varma, Abalal Rahiman, Hemendranath Mazumdar, and M F Pithawalla adapted these conventions while negotiating colonial encounters and emerging ideas of modern identity.
By the mid twentieth century, modernist artists such as F N Souza, Krishen Khanna, and Anjolie Ela Menon moved beyond resemblance toward revelation as "distortion replaced flattery, colour intensified, and line became charged with emotion". The portrait shifted from recording outward likeness to excavating interior states.
In the works of Rabin Mondal, Maniklal Banerjee, and others, the human figure "acquires existential weight, reflecting the anxieties of modernity, displacement, and social change".
The contemporary works in the exhibition extend and complicate this trajectory. Artists such as Shobha Broota, Tom Vattakuzhy, Terry Turrell, Kaori Someya, Pavel Bulva, and Francesca Schiffrin revisit portraiture as a layered and fluid space shaped by memory, migration, and cultural hybridity.
“Portraiture is not only about resemblance. It is about presence. And presence is always shaped by power, memory, and the time in which we live,” Batra added.
Other featured artists in the exhibition include Jamini Prakash Gangooly, Mukundan Tampi, Rasik Raval, M Senathipathi, Madeleine Fawkes, L Harris, Jean Francois Portaels, Rose Bonnor, Oscar Schütte, and Francesca Schiffrin.
The exhibition will close on April 15.
Across centuries and continents, one truth endures: a portrait is never merely a mirror. It is a map of self and society, tracing the aspirations, hierarchies, and identities that shape both.
Featured artists include: Krishen Khanna, Anjolie Ela Menon, Hemen Mazumdar, Jamini Prakash Gangooly, F. N. Souza, Abalal Rahiman, M. F. Pithawalla, K. R. Ravi Verma, Mukundan Tampi, Shobha Broota, Rabin Mondal, Maniklal Banerjee, Rasik Raval, Tom Vattakuzhy, M. Senathipathi, K. S. Gopal, Madeleine Fawkes, Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter, L. Harris, Jean Francois Portaels, Jose Mallol Suazo, Hugues Merle, Rose Bonnor, Oscar Schütte, Marie Shayans, Ibrahim Shahada, Terry Turrell, Kaori Someya, Pavel Bulva, and Francesca Schiffrin. MAH
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