Marg magazine as one of the sources of the artistic life of India in the 1930s and 1950s
Authors:   Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, Loginova Arina M. ,   Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Published: December 2024

In the first half of the twentieth century, Indian art was undergoing major transformations that radically changed its pictorial language. Domestic and foreign researchers paid their attention to the art of India in the first half of the century. So, among Western authors, I would like to highlight a contemporary of these processes, William George Archer, British art critic Parthu Mitter who studied the formation of modern Indian painting and the relationship of Indian and European art, as well as the largest specialist in the field of painting of the Bengal Renaissance and early Indian modernism R. Shiva Kumar. Among the Russian-speaking authors, I would like to highlight the works of I.I. Sheptunova who considered the art of the beginning of the century as a transitional period from the well-established medieval schools of miniature to modern painting, S.I. Potabenko whose works refer to the art of the region of New and Modern times, as well as T.G. Skorokhodova who considers the history and philosophy of India of the twentieth century, as well as the links between East and West. However, the process of the birth of modernism in India is still little consecrated in the Russian-language scientific literature. The artistic life of India in the first half of the twentieth century was marked by two important processes: the Bengal Renaissance and the birth of modernism. At this time, various creative associations and clubs began to work in the country, educational institutions associated with the names of famous artists and cultural figures were opened, and publications appeared covering the heritage of local and foreign masters. In addition to the works of witnesses of these processes: memoirs, interviews, diaries – which are included in the works of these researchers, it is worth noting that an interesting but poorly studied source is the Marg magazine, which began to be published in October 1946. The article considers Marg magazine as a valuable source of information on the artistic life of India in the 1930–1950s which, along with a description of the cultural processes of the mid-20th century, gives an idea of the formation of art criticism in India. Since the early years of its existence, Marg has set a high tone for the coverage of art in the press. The magazine was one of the first examples of an art history approach to the study and understanding of works of art from both the past and present of Indian art. Conceived as a “path” to creating and maintaining a new society, the magazine quickly became one of the most respected publications on art and architecture in the region. Written by researchers and experts, today Marg is not only an example of the beginning of art criticism in the country, but also a valuable source of information about the artistic life of India in the second quarter of the twentieth century, the works and personalities of authors who created a new visual culture of the country.