Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944

2016

Atul Dodiya Indian, born 1959

On View

Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Level 1, North Wing

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944: 1 of Collection Gallery

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944: 2 of Collection Gallery

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944: 3 of Collection Gallery

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944: 4 of Collection Gallery

Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944: 5 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

In this painting, Atul Dodiya combines photorealist and abstract styles to bring together two leaders of India’s Independence movement (1857 – 1947): Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

Meticulously reproducing an archival black-and-white image by photographer Kanu Gandhi, Dodiya uses subdued tones to depict Gandhi emerging from a Packard sedan at the home of Muhammad Ali Jinnah for negotiations in September 1944. Jinnah, who would later become the first governor-general of Pakistan, led the All-India Muslim League political party, which advocated for the creation of a separate, Muslim-majority nation upon India’s Independence from Britain. Gandhi represented the Indian National Congress, which advocated for a unified India post-Independence. Their negotiations ultimately failed, and exaggerated shadows suggest a tense mood.

Across the top of the painting, Dodiya layered an abstract gold line and perched bird quoted from drawings by artist and poet Rabindranath Tagore. Many believe that Tagore — also a prominent advocate for Indian independence — was the first to call Gandhi “Mahatma,” Sanskrit for “great soul.” Dodiya calls this painting an “homage to two great souls India produced in the first half of the twentieth century.”

Title Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944

Artwork Date 2016

Artist Atul Dodiya

Life Dates born 1959

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Indian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Overall: 72 × 72 inches (182.9 × 182.9 cm) Unframed: 71 7/8 × 72 1/16 × 1 9/16 inches (182.5 × 183 × 4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Museum Purchase, Modern and Contemporary Deaccession Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2019.43

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Provenance

(Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India);
2019-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Atul Dodiya, Mahatma Gandhi getting out of a car, Bombay, 1944, 2016, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Modern and Contemporary Deaccession Fund, 2019.43.