Arts of People Ⅰ　
From Goddess to Pin-up：
Icons of Femininity in Indian Calendar Art

The prints exhibited here express a sociologist’s‑eye view of a neglected genre of Indian popular culture ‑‑ ‘calendar art’.  Calendar art is one of the most ubiquitous and powerful forms of everyday art in India.  The calendars consist of mass-produced colour prints on a wide range of themes, both sacred and profane:  gods and goddesses, myths and legends, beautiful women, moral tales, charming babies, loving mothers, politicians and heroes of the Freedom Movement, sports stars and stars of the silver screen, idealised cityscapes and landscapes,  decorative motifs…. Something for everyone.

This exhibition focuses on the representation of women in this unique medium.  The organisation of the exhibits is designed so as to suggest a continuity of feminine imagery from the domain of the sacred through to the secular, and to emphasise the wide range of feminine stereotypes – constraining and enabling, deified and misogynist ‑‑ that calendar art proffers.

The exhibits have been selected from the personal collection of sociologists J.P.S. Uberoi and Patricia Uberoi, collected over the last three decades, mainly in the north Indian region.  In addition to the printed calendars, this exhibition also features a select number of the original paintings from which calendar prints are made, purchased from publishers and distributors.  These paintings belong to the Eicher Collection, New Delhi, and to the private collection of  J.P.S. and Patricia Uberoi.  This exhibition is probably the first in which such paintings have been put on public display.