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