On the Shores of Infinity: New Indian Art between Octavio Paz and Group 1890

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Octavio Paz and Group 1890, a collective of young Indian artists who held their only exhibition in New Delhi in 1963. The analysis focuses on the dialogue that emerges from the exhibition catalogue, which includes an introductory essay by Paz as well as Group’s provocative manifesto. Through a reading of Paz and the group’s approaches to artistic novelty, the role of the national, and the art-reality relationship, this study seeks to trace a South-South artistic dialogue based on incongruity and heterogeneity. In the exhibited works, the poet sees the expression of a global avant-garde, influences by European movements, built in opposition to the national folkloric tradition, and devoted to a deep exploration of reality without ever espousing realism. Meanwhile, Group 1890’s manifesto projects an almost nihilistic vision that, despite acknowledging a European predecessor in its dedication, rejects its national tradition without embracing universalist aims and conceptualizes art as an independent field separate from what’s real.