ROOPLEKHA: 12 VOLUMES, 24 ISSUES - 1928 TO 1974
Rare big run of the art journal published by the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
Volume 1. No.1, 1928
Volume 2. No. 5-8, 1930 (some plates are supplied in facsimile)
Volume 3. No. 9-12, 1932 (some plates are supplied in facsimile)
Volume 11. No. 1 and 2 (minor staining)
Volume 23. No. 1 and 2, 1952
Volume 25. No. 2
Volume 26. No. 2
Volume 27. No. 1
Volume 31. No. 1 and 2, 1960
Volume 36. No. 1 and 2, 1966
Volume 40. No. 1 and 2, 1972
Volume 42. No. 1 and 2, 1974
Each PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED with coloured and black and white plates of Early Bengal School Masters and later Modern Masters, some early volumes may have some pages and plates supplied in facsimile; all the volumes have been beautifully bound in marbled boards, with original wrappers bound in.
Roopalekha was the first journal to be published in northern India entirely devoted to fine arts. The All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS) is an independent arts organization in India, founded in Delhi in 1928.
The following year 1931 saw the formal establishment of the All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society by the Ukil brothers, and by July 1939 their bi-annual illustrated art journal Roopa-Lekha (Vol. 1, Serial No. 1) was published.
The editorial board consisted of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, James H. Cousins, Ajit Ghose, Karl Khandalvala, G. Venkatachalam and Barada Ukil. The cover was designed by Kumudini Devi, Ukil's mother, which carried typical traditional Bengali motifs such as lotus, conch-shell and Goddess Lakshmi's foot-marks. Even a cursory glance at the contents table and the list of colored and monochrome illustrations of this first issue will prove beyond doubt the pan-Indian philosophy and outlook, irrespective of styles and -isms, even in those early years of this organization's existence.
One interesting observation about the chronology of Roopa-Lekha is that there is discrepancy in its numbering. Whereas the July 1939 issue is designated as Vol. 1/Serial No. 1 the 1949 issue is designated as Vol. XX/Serial No. 1. It is possible that the publishers faced some problems during the initial years of its publication.
From 1932 to 1940, the Society held exhibitions of Indian Art in most of the important cities of India as well as in London and Paris. Also, the society took up the responsibility of publishing the art journal Roopa-Lekha. It was reorganized and registered in 1938 and a drive was made by the Society for establishing a National Art Gallery in New Delhi.
Co-operation and support of important art-centres like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow and Lahore was enlisted" (Roopa-Lekha, 1949, pp. 54-55). It was during this period that AIFACS had organised Amrita Sher-Gil's first solo in Delhi in 1937.
AIFACS organizes art exhibitions and makes awards to artists across the country. Among the most prominent artists exhibited in the 1940s were Amrita Sher-Gil, Sailoz Mookherjea and Manishi Dey. Many other followed in the long history of the AIFACS.
Source: (http://www.chitralekha.org, online)
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.