Meet the Artist (MTA) is a permanent in-house program of JDCA, where invited artists, craft persons or scholars through their illustrated presentations create an appreciation of all forms of visual art.
Since 2001, 245 such MTAs have taken place on the second Saturday of every month. Currently, our sessions are being held online.
246 Meet the Artist Programme
with Art critic, Sadanand Menon
, on: artist, designer and educator Dashrath Patel
Saturday, 10 July 2021
in collaboration with the India International Centre, New Delhi
Sadanand Menon will speak about Dashrath Patel, whom he considered his mentor. In 1998, he curated the Retrospective Exhibition, Fifty Years of Dashrath Patel’s Work, that was held at the NGMA, Delhi and Mumbai. The lecture will explore the multi-faceted life of an incredible multi-media artist, designer and educator. Dashrath Patel was the first Director of the National Institute of Design (NID) when it was founded in 1961. In the two decades at NID, his contribution was immense in making the institution an iconic design school.
Dashrath Patel
Dashrath Patel's work was across disciplines - art, sculpture, ceramics, photography, architecture and design. He is often described as ‘a visual genius’ for his prolific intensity and depth of work spanning six decades.
Born in 1927, Dashrath was the first director of Design Education at the National Institute of Design in 1961. And till he left it in 1980, he virtually represented every major International exhibition, trade fair and festival that India participated in.
In 1998, The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, had a major Retrospective exhibition of fifty years of Dashrath’s work in painting, photography, design and ceramic, titled ‘In the Realm of the Visual’. The show was curated by Sadanand Menon, and also travelled to NGMA, Mumbai, in 1999.
Dashrath was honoured with many awards, including the first-ever Padma Shri for Design & Design Education, in 1981. He passed away in 2010 and was posthumously conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Sadanand Menon
Sadanand Menon is a well-known arts editor, columnist, photographer, art curator and stage lights designer. He has the distinctive profile of linking the media, the academy and the arts. He has been an advisor to the National Museum, Lalit Kala Akademi and the National School of Drama in Delhi; National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, among others. He’s a trustee of the Raza Foundation, Delhi, of Dakshinachitra, Chennai and is Managing Trustee of SPACES, in Chennai and on the editorial advisory board of Marg magazine, Mumbai. He has taught and lectured at various universities/colleges across India. A long-time collaborator with legendary dancer/choreographer Chandralekha, he has been deeply involved with issues pertaining to contemporary Indian dance. He has curated landmark Retrospectives of senior artists Dashrath Patel (NGMA, Delhi/Mumbai); Balan Nambiar (NGMA, Bengaluru) and S.G. Vasudev (NGMA, Bengaluru/Mumbai).
