Art has not always been what we think it is today. An object regarded as Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an artist. Both the notion of "art" and the idea of the "artist" are relatively modern terms.   Many of the objects we identify as art today were made in times and places when people had no concept of "art" as we understand the term. These objects may have been appreciated in various ways and often admired, but not as "art" in the current sense.   Art lacks a satisfactory definition. It is easier to describe it as the way something is done.   How do we describe art:   “The use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others"         With the help of our readers, we have compiled a list of what we think are some of the most taented painters in the world of art.   On the subsequent pages is a directory of Museums located in Mumbai, India.   There is also an opportunity to create your own art to be included in our online gallery.     On this and the subsequent pages, you learn about some of the interesting art that is taking place in both the world and India.   We have assembled biographies of some of the most interesting art and or artists we have come in contact with.           Pollock, Jackson (1912-56)   The commanding figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement.   This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.   Create your own work of art inspired by the great master, Jackson Pollock. Click and drag your cursor across the canvas below to create a masterpiece. Clicking your mouse button changes colors and pressing the space bar erases your paining.

Nancy Leroux Nancy’s art reflects light visions she began having during meditation as an 8 year-old child. Religious in nature and unsure of how to express these higher states of awareness, she kept her experiences to herself and eventually quit having visions. In 1995, a series of unfortunate events occurred in her life, which served as catalyst for her visions to return. In an attempt to bring these realities down to earth and into her body, she began to use art as an outlet. “The energy gets grounded in something tangible and helps me process my experiences,” says Nancy.

Mohan Naik   In a way Mohan is a hybrid. He thinks and feels like those farmers and tribes where he lives, but has also the education and intellectual means to interpret and to communicate with the modern urban world. These two-dimensional depictions of rural life are authentic and fall into the pre- perspective era of mental evolution.   At that stage, left - right separation is not yet fully developed, which I have verified in various backward areas. Eye angle is smaller than usual (which results in chaotic behaviour on the roads), and many other indicators which fit perfectly for this mental disposition.   It's like digging out a fossil and read in it the past.

M.F. HUSAIN   Muqbool Fida Husain was born in 1915 in Maharashtra. Husain was a self taught artist. In 1947 he joined the progressive artists group. M. F. Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971.   In 1967 he won the Golden Bear for his documentary in Berlin. He has been awarded the Padmashri in 1955, the Padma Bhushan in 1973, Padma Vibhushan in 1989, and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. M. F. Husain experimentations with new forms of art are pioneering.

K G Subramanyan   Painter, sculptor, muralist, K G Subramanyan was born in a village in north Kerala in 1924. Following a brief period as a student of economics, Subramanyan underwent training at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, under the tutelage of eminent artists like Nandalal Bose, Binode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij. Later, he was admitted to the Slade School of Art, London. This exposure to Western Modernism was later synthesised with his work, essentially rooted in an indigenous folk tradition.   It was in the late 70s that Subramanyan shifted his focus to a two-century old vibrant craft tradition of reverse painting and created a new language for the medium that suited his own temperament and our modern sensibility.

Francis Newton Souza   Born in Saligao, Goa in 1924, Souza was expelled for participating in the Quit India Movement while studying at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai. He founded Progressive Artist's Movement along with S.H. Raza and K.H. Ara, among others, in 1947.   Soon after independence, he left for Britain, and then for New York, where he received the Guggenheim International Award.   His works are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, London and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. His works were exhibited at the Gallery Creuze, Paris in 1954, at Arts 38, in London, in 1975 and 1976, and at the Bose Pacia Modern, in New York, in 1998.

Raghubir Singh   Indian born Raghubir Singh (1942-99) lived and worked in London, Paris and New York. A pioneer of the use of colour in photojournalism, he is particularly known for his images of his country of birth, emphatic colour images that show India as dramatic and exotic, but are never simply sentimental or touristic.   When Singh was 24 he met Henri Cartier-Bresson who was then photographing India, and the master of photojournalism became very much a model for his own photography. Despite this, Singh chose to work in colour, feeling that this was at the very heart of his view of India.

Bose Krishnamachari   Was born in Kerala and studied at Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. He has held solo exhibitions at the British Council Division, Mumbai and at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai.   He has also participated in several group shows including ‘Drawings: Group Show’ at the Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, in 1990, and ‘Romor City’, Tokyo, 2001.   He was a recipient of the award of the Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi, and was first runner up for the Bose Pacia Prize for Modern Art, New York, 2001. He lives and works in Mumbai.     Treaty Irani