B. C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat and Ram Kumar belong to :

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 2:
The artists B. C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, and Ram Kumar were prominent figures associated with the Delhi Shilpi Chakra. This influential artists' collective was formally founded in New Delhi in March 1949, primarily by B. C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, K. S. Kulkarni, and Kanwal Krishna. The group's formation was a direct response to the upheaval of India's Partition, as many artists—including Sanyal and Bhagat—migrated from Lahore to Delhi and sought a new, independent platform to sustain their artistic practice in the capital. The Chakra's central mission was to create a supportive, democratic space for artists, free from the centralized control of existing institutions, and to foster a progressive, yet distinctly Indian, modern art movement in North India. Ram Kumar, a celebrated painter who moved from figurative to abstract work, was also an early and integral member of this organization, which championed artistic freedom and collaboration in a newly independent nation.

The incorrect option is 1:
The Progressive Artists Group (PAG) was a different collective, founded earlier in 1947 and centered in Bombay (now Mumbai). Its key founding members included F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre. The PAG was known for its radical, anti-establishment stance and its mission to break away from the revivalist nationalism of the Bengal School, focusing heavily on a modernist, often expressionistic, style. While both the PAG and the Delhi Shilpi Chakra were pivotal in shaping post-independence modern Indian art, the artists named in the question were the driving force behind the Delhi-based group. Their ideologies and core memberships were distinct, even though they shared a common goal of modernizing Indian art.

The incorrect option is 3:
The Bengal School of Art was a significant art movement that pre-dated the Delhi Shilpi Chakra, emerging in the early 20th century, primarily led by Abanindranath Tagore. This school represented a conscious rejection of Western academic painting styles taught during the colonial era, favoring a nationalist and spiritual revivalist aesthetic. Its artists drew heavily on traditional Indian mural painting and employed the wash technique. The artists B. C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, and Ram Kumar belonged to a later generation of modern artists. Their work marked a clear stylistic and ideological move towards post-independence modernism, social realism, and abstraction, consciously distancing themselves from the Bengal School's revivalism.

The incorrect option is 4:
Group 1890 was a short-lived but highly influential collective formed much later, in 1963, in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. This group had a different set of core members, notably J. Swaminathan, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Jeram Patel, and Himmat Shah. They developed a unique manifesto advocating for an art that was non-referential and rooted in a unique Indian sensibility, standing apart from both the Bengal School and the Progressive Artists Group. B. C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, and Ram Kumar were all well-established, mid-career artists with a different organizational affiliation and artistic focus long before the formation of Group 1890.