Indian artist who was expert in expressing abstract ideas on canvas. H A Gade (19 Aug 1917–16 Dec 2001) was an Indian artist from a small city of Maharashtra. His real name was Hari Ambadas Gade. However, he was also a founding member of the progressive artist group. He had joined the group in 1948. India had recently set free from British rules.
When I was a child I was fond of drawing, but I also had a compelling interest in science and Mathematics.
Gade
He did masters in art from the Nagpur School of Art. Hari considered the artist after independence (as well as other members of the group). He was one who filled the colours through his exceptional abstract ideas placed on the canvas. He focused more on playing with colours than the form of paintings. However, he was born in one of the notable cities (now) in Maharashtra which comes after Nagpur.
In his adulthood and when he decided to make a career in art, he made his small shelf of a book crowded with two of his favourite books, “How to Paint Water Colours” and “Vision and Design” by Roger Fry. The painting “an old man with white flowering beard” won the prize.
When he joined the progressive artist group members including S H Raza, Sadanand Bakre, M F Husain, K H Ara, and F N Souza. These alls became founding members of the group. However, Gade received a lot of advice (lectures) on landscape paintings from S H Raza. It was a great helping hand to Hari those days. The painter Raza was inspired by the beauty of India and was an expert in landscape arts.
His art stands on a first intellectual platform. In his work, colour is of importance, form is only incidental.
Prakash Bhise (art critic)
His most of the landscapes are still witness to the steady growing slum of Mumbai in 1950. The successful journey of his exhibition had picked up from 1947 right after India’s independence. It was a great time for emerging artist from India and was a great event on being an independent country’s talents. His start was great, it was from Mumbai. Therefore, his colourful wings spread far, behind the ocean at the Stanford University too.
The artist Hari Gade attended the following exhibitions.
- Mumbai (1947)
- Bombay Art Society (1948)
- Salon De Mai (1949)
- Stanford University (1954)
- Basel (1951)
- Venice (1957)
His paintings displayed at National gallery of arts, Lalit kala Akademi, Bombay Art Society, the Tata Institute of Fundamental research, the art gallery of Bangkok, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, Bucharest, Dhoomimal Art gallery, Sofia and Venice. As well as, Hari won a gold medal in 1956 from the Bombay Art Society.
