• ISBN13: 9788188204939
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Fine Arts
• Publisher: Mapin Publishing
• Publisher Imprint: MapinPub
• Publication Date: August 6, 2007
• Pages: 218
• Original Price: 2000.0 INR
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 500 grams

Banaras is the religious captial of India. Situated on the Ganges, it contains more than 1500 temples and mosques. Almost all of the city’s five kilometres of river banks have been converted into ghats. Manu Parekh has executed a series of paintings inspired by the city. He made a conscious decision to concentrate on landscape in the series to give himself the opportunity to play out the dynamic of faith and fear that he identifies as uniquely Indian. In turn, this book is a collection of the essays by seven writers who have been inspired by his work in this series. Tanuj Berry considers the use of red in the Banaras paintings while Aditi De looks at the theme of holiness and pilgrimage. We hear the voice of Manu Parekh in the inclusion of an interview with the artist in which he explains what attracted him to Banaras and how the city ignited his creativity. These essays offer a thorough assessment of his themes and motivations. Painted in the Indian Expressionist style these works have a significant role in the development of modern Indian painting. Essays by Aditi De, Meera Menezes, Peter Osborne, Marilyn Rushton, Jeet Thayil, Ashok Vajpeyi and Tanuj Berry. Published in association with Lund Humphries.

Tanuj Berry is a friend and collector of Manu Parekh's art. He has been involved with a number of significant publications on Indian artists. Aditi De is a writer, columnist and editor. She is the author on Articulations: Voices from Contemporary Indian Visual Art. Meera Menezes is a producer at the South Asia ARD First German Television. She has been involved in the contemporary Indian art scene since the late 1980's Peter Osborne worked at Christie's Contemporary Art and was a chairman of the Harlech Fine art group. He co-founded the Osborne Samuel Gallery in 2004. Marilyn Rushton isa lawyer and an academic with a strong interest in Contemporary Indian Art. Jeet Thayil is a poet and has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. Ashok Vajpayi is an eminent poet-critic who composes on the visual arts.