Tyeb Mehta
(Indian, 1925–2009)
Biography
Tyeb Mehta was an Indian artist known for his paintings of figures set amidst diagonal shapes of color. The artist’s combination of abstracted and expressionistic elements was influenced by the work of both Francis Bacon and Barnett Newman, while the subject matter of falling bodies and religious motifs seen in his painting Kali (1989), came from his childhood recollections of violence. “An artist comes to terms with certain images. He arrives at certain conventions by a process of reduction,” Mehta once explained. Born on July 26, 1925 in Kapadvanj, India, he grew up in a Shiite community in Mumbai during a time when violent attacks on Muslims were common. Mehta worked as film editor before attending the Sir J.J. School of Art in the early 1950s. The artist went on to spend a number of years in London and New York while on a travel fellowship. After returning to India, Mehta became a member of a new generation of post-colonial artists called the Progressive Artists Group alongside M.F. Husain and others. Over the decades that followed, he was the subject of a number exhibitions both in his country and abroad. The artist died on July 2, 2009 in Mumbai, India. Today, Mehta’s work are held in the collections of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
Tyeb Mehta Artworks
Tyeb Mehta
(230 results)
.jpg "Untitled (Falling bird), 1999")
.jpg "Untitled (Yellow heads), 1979")
English (US)
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