Schama on Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Last Years (UK) | Click here to watch
(59 min; 2019; English)
Director: Frank Hanly

Icarus-like, Rembrandt flew ever higher towards the sun - the most successful artist in the richest city on earth, 17th century Amsterdam. He lived like a prince and he loved living like a prince. But when his fall came - deep into bankruptcy and scandal, poverty and unfashionability - far from destroying him, it took him to new creative heights and a sense of humanity and the human condition that speaks more directly to us today than Rembrandt in his heyday. Simon Schama celebrates the masterpieces of Rembrandt's last years.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x290mmx
 

The Secret History of Writing, a three-part BBC 4 documentary series presented by Lydia Wilson.
Wilson, an academic and journalist who is also the editor of the Cambridge Literary Review, started off by looking at the moment when writing with pictures transformed into writing with words, a quest that centred on the Rebus, a puzzle or pun in which pictures are used to represent words.

So who did create writing as we know it? As Wilson discovered, this was an entertainingly fraught topic that continues to be debated passionately by Egyptologists and specialists in Mesopotamian culture. The fascinating story that finally unfolded revealed that while some things stay the same (a hieroglyph on an Egyptian sapphire mine turned out to be a series of complaints about weather and working conditions), the smallest moment can change the world.

Series 2: Words on a Page | Click here to watch
(58 min; 2020; English)
Director: David Sington

Presenter Lydia Wilson and calligrapher Brody Neuenschwander set out to explore history’s most important technology - the technology of putting words on a page.

https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Words+on+a+Page

Fryderyk Chopin (Italy)
A documentary on the life of Frédéric Chopin
(56 min; 2015; Italian with English subtitles)
Director: Angelo Bozzolini

With Bobby McFerrin, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Rosen, Alexander Lonquich, Adam Harasiewicz, Janusz Janusz Prusinowski Trio and others... 

The documentary offers a careful use of the epistolary of the “protagonist”, entrusting to letters written and received by Chopin. The writings are interpreted by the two renowned actors Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Margherita Buy. Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, in a setting far from the limelight of the great musical tradition. His education is the fruit of Polish culture and cannot be separated from that, but he also feels the influence of the three main cultures of the time: Italian, Austro-German and French. This documentary describes the places that provided the basis for the young composer’s imagination, from the capital Warsaw to rural Poland, where Chopin spends part of his childhood and is formed as a man and a musician, on to Paris, theatre of the second half of the musician’s life. 
 

The Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne (USA) | Click here to watch
(72 min; 2008; English)
Director: Philip Gardiner

Jules Verne was truly a man ahead of his time. The 19th century Frenchman created some of the great futuristic works in the history of literature, including From the Earth to the Moon, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The film explores the life and works of "the father of science fiction." From his childhood and his early career as a writer of plays and librettos to his rise to fame, the forces that shaped the life and works of the famed futurist are explored. A compelling portrait of one of the most influential and imitated writers of all time.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22tppe

Pablo Bartholomew, the photographer is the guest for the 255th MTA and will speak on: art critic, photographer, poet, painter, Richard Bartholomew, remembering Richard at 95. 

A visual presentation of Richard's life journey through the eyes of his son, Pablo as he excavated his archive of text and photographs, was discovered and contacted by his father's family in Burma in 2011 and then making a series of trips to Burma to meet and discover his father’s family and one aunt in Scotland.

JDCA is envisioned as a unique art centre that aims to preserve and exhibit its large collection of folk, tribal, traditional and contemporary art, all under one roof. It is currently under construction in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. 

MTA is a permanent programme of JDCA, where invited artists, craft persons or scholars, share their work, experiences, and insights through an illustrated talk. Since 2001, 254 such MTAs have taken place on the second Saturday of every month. Currently, our sessions are being held online.

The MTA will be on Zoom and YouTube at 6 pm, Saturday, 9 April 2022.

Collaboration: JD Centre of Art (JDCA)

Zoom Registration: https://zoom.us/j/83137583807
Meeting ID: 831 375 83807
You can also visit JD Centre of Art’s YouTube channel for live streaming.

Pablo Bartholomew

Pablo Bartholomew is a self-taught photographer. His photojournalism (1983-2004) has been featured in every major international publication, winning him the World Press Photo award thrice.

Since 2000 he has been excavating his five-decade-old photographic archive, evolving exhibitions like Outside In: A Tale of Three Cities (2007); Bombay: Chronicles of a Past Life (2011); and The Calcutta Diaries (2012). He has held over 30 international solo exhibitions. His work is part of prominent collections worldwide.

Since 2005 he has been revisiting his father, Richard Bartholomew’s archive. In 2008, he co-conceived the photo book and exhibition A Critic’s Eye. In 2012, he self-published The Art Critic, a 640-page selection of his father’s writing on modern Indian art.

He has been bestowed with the Padma Shri and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

He is currently continuing his Indian Émigrés series alongside discovering his Burmese roots by expanding on his DNA-based project, incorporating Indian, Bangladeshi, and Burmese weaving traditions.

Richard Lawrence Bartholomew: (1926–1985), 

Art Critic, Photographer, Poet, Painter

Richard Bartholomew escaped from Burma around the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and made New Delhi his home. Here, he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in English Literature, after which he began his career as a full-time art critic writing for various newspapers, journals, and magazines. His creative writing includes poems and short stories published frequently in journals like Thought and Illustrated Weekly of India. As a painter, he held one-person shows in New Delhi and Bombay in the 1950s and 60s. He recorded life around him as a photographer, including his family and artist friends.  A Critic’s Eye, a selection of his photographs, was exhibited at Sepia Gallery, New York, in 2008; at PHOTOINK, New Delhi, in January 2009; at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, in 2010; at Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata, in 2010; and at Fishbar Gallery, London, in 2011.

1926 Born, November 29, in Tavoy, (Dawei) Burma  

1930 Schooled at St Paul’s, Rangoon (Yangon), Burma

1942 Fled to India during the Japanese occupation of Burma

1948 B.A. (English), St Stephen’s College, New Delhi

1950 M.A. (English), St Stephen’s College, New Delhi

1951–1958 Teacher, Modern School, New Delhi

1953 Married Rati Batra

1955–1960 Art Critic, Thought, New Delhi

1958–1960 Assistant Editor, Thought, New Delhi

1958–1962 Art Critic, Indian Express, New Delhi

1960–1963 Director, Kunika Art Centre, New Delhi

1962 onwards Art Critic, Times of India, New Delhi

1966–1973 Curator of Tibet House, the first museum of Tibetan Art, New Delhi

1970–1971 Senior Fellowship, John D. Rockefeller III Fund, New York

1977–1985 Secretary, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1982 Commissioner, Contemporary Indian Art, Festival of India, Great Britain

1984 Invited by the Japan Foundation to meet artists in Japan

1985 Died, January 11, in New Delhi

PUBLICATIONS

1971 Husain, Harry N. Abrams, New York (co-author)

1972 The Story of Siddhartha’s Release (poems), Writers Workshop, India

1973 Poems, Writers Workshop, India 

1974 Krishna Reddy (Contemporary Indian Art Series), Lalit Kala Akademi, India

1986 The Cycle (sonnets), Writers Workshop, India

2009 A Critic’s Eye, Chatterjee & Lal, PHOTOINK and Sepia International, India

2012 The Art Critic - BART - An insider’s account of the birth of Modern Indian Art

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Dr. M. Shah Hussain and Dr. Faiyaz A. Khudsar in conversation with Suhas Borker

The second edition of Green Conversation will cover the entire gamut of green issues specifically related to Delhi NCR: from biodiversity parks, protection of the ridge, to the vilayati kikar menace, encouraging native variety of trees especially of the Aravalli ranges, Delhi tree census, bird count, butterfly survey and developing butterfly conservatories/habitats, recharging of groundwater, proposed tree ambulance network, integration of hands on green/environmental activity in school curriculum and involving college students in environmental conservation.

Dr. M. Shah Hussain and Dr. Faiyaz A. Khudsar, are both scientists at University of Delhi’s Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE) – recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Dr. Hussain is the Scientist-in-charge, Aravalli Biodiversity Park; and Dr. Khudsar is Scientist-in-charge, Yamuna Biodiversity Park. Suhas Borker is the Founder Member of the Green Circle of Delhi

This conversation marks the 30th Anniversary of the Green Circle of Delhi (1992-2022) and the 86th Anniversary of Lodhi Garden.

A sapling will be presented to each participant by NDMC Horticulture Department; please bring a cloth/jute carry bag

(Collaboration: Green Circle of Delhi)

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

Dhun Mein Dhyan: Meditations in Music, in the Guru Granth Saheb | (51 min; 2017; English)

A film by Meera Dewan who will introduce the film

A weaver, a barber, a cobbler, a butcher, a blind writer, a king, Sufis, 6 Gurus…these are some of the 36 visionary poets of the anthology, Guru Granth Sahib. Living centuries and geographies apart, their verses - a shared message –

“The Creator created many forms from the same clay
Flawless is the clay pot; flawless, the Potter.” 
 
The film attempts to unravel the birth, lineage, ancestors and life message of this Living Guru. When the believers bow to the Granth, set to 31 raagas, it is to knowledge they bow. When they sing to it, it sings right back to them.  

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

‘And all this is True because it Rhymes’: A short history of Global Encounters through Popular Culture 

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Paroma Ghose, postdoctoral researcher based at the International History and Politics Department, Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland

Chair: Shri Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, journalist, author, educationist, teacher, documentary filmmaker and publisher

In an increasingly interconnected and globalizing world, encounters between countries and their representations seem to occur on a more level plain. This lecture will deconstruct this illusion and look at how contemporary encounters can unravel long histories of prejudice through just a word or a moment. It will demonstrate how a history told through cultural sources can provide a very different narrative on the state of the world than one narrated through political polemic.
 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Madhavi Mudgal, renowned dancer, choreographer, teacher and prime disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatr presents her students, trained at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, in a traditional Odissi repertoire. The evening features rare pieces of choreographed by her Guru more than half a century ago, to highlight the continuity of the Guru-Shishya Parampara even in today’s world.

Dancers: Shalakha Rai, Shobha Bisht, Deepika Bisht, Chikirsha Mohanty, Ishita Mohanty, Akankshya Padhi, Ketaki Pasricha, and Arnaaz Zaman

First programme in a new series focusing on the Guru-Shishya Parampara in different Indian classical dance forms   
 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

A theatrical dance production by Manjari Chaturvedi

The programme celebrates the traditional music of Punjab through music, dance and storytelling using jugni an age-old narrative device used in Punjabi folk music.

Artists: Manjari Chaturvedi (dance); Ustad Ranjhan Ali from Punjab (music); and theatrical storytelling by Balkar Sidhu and stories of jugni narrated by Jasvir Kumar

(Collaboration: Sufi Kathak Foundation)