August 2026

The history of art contains few figures as restless, prolific, and globally influential as Katsushika Hokusai. Born in 1760 in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Japan, Hokusai emerged as a towering figure of the Edo period, mastering the ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) genre and eventually pushing it beyond its traditional boundaries to capture the majesty of the Japanese landscape, the daily lives of commoners, and the intricate details of the natural world. While his contemporaries focused on the ephemeral pleasures of kabuki actors and courtesans, Hokusai turned his gaze outward, revolutionising the medium and ensuring its global relevance.

Raja Ravi Varma (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) stands as one of the most transformative figures in the history of Indian art. Widely recognised as the father of modern Indian art, Varma executed a pivotal cultural transition during the nineteenth century by bridging the structural aesthetics of European academic realism with the iconography and narrative depth of traditional Indian mythology. Prior to his emergence, Indian visual traditions were predominantly localised, characterised by flat dimensionalities, stylised forms, and courtly miniature styles. Varma disrupted these traditional conventions by introducing oil painting, realistic perspective, and dramatic chiaroscuro to portray sacred Hindu scriptures, classical literature, and contemporary socio-cultural life.