Tyeb Mehta Mapin Publishing
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Tyeb Mehta

Bearing Weight with the lightness of being
Roobina Karode, Ashok Vajpeyi, Gieve Patel, Aditi Ghildiyal and Srinivas Aditya.

Book will be shipped on Aug 30, 2026

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“The greatest figurative painter of our time, better than anyone else—and that includes myself.” — M. F. Husain on Tyeb Mehta

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Book will be shipped on Aug 30, 2026
TYEB MEHTA is the first comprehensive book devoted to the artist's practice since his death in 2009, and the most complete account of his work yet assembled in one volume. One of the defining painters of India's first post-colonial generation, Mehta spent five decades distilling the upheavals he witnessed – Partition, displacement, and the daily asymmetries of life in a new nation – into a visual language of extraordinary economy, through recurring motifs: the bull, the falling figure, the falling bird, the diagonal, and his reimaginings of Kali and Mahishasura.

Growing out of a landmark retrospective at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, this volume traces that language across every medium Mehta worked in – painting, drawing, sculpture, and his rarely seen 1970 film Koodal – with forewords, a curatorial note, and a suite of essays that range from sweeping accounts of his practice to closer readings of particular works and mediums within it. TYEB MEHTA is the definitive record of an artist who turned a fractured century into form.

Roobina Karode is Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi. A curator, educator and art critic, she has organized major exhibitions in India and internationally and serves on the Advisory Council of the Asia Society India Centre and the Raza Foundation.

Ashok Vajpeyi is a poet, essayist and cultural critic. A former Indian Administrative Service officer, he has played a key role in establishing cultural institutions, including Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. He currently serves as Managing Trustee of the Raza Foundation.

Gieve Patel (1940–2023) was an artist, poet, playwright and practising physician. A self-taught painter, he was widely recognized for his contributions to modern Indian art and literature.

Aditi Ghildiyal is Associate Curator (Visual Arts) at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi. She trained in painting and art history, and was awarded the Raza Foundation Fellowship in 2021 to write a biography of Kapila Vatsyayan.

Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi is Curator (Visual Arts) at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi. His curatorial practice emphasizes relatable frameworks of engagement between art and audiences.

FOREWORDS
• Kiran Nadar
• Manuel Rabaté
• Tyeb Mehta Foundation
• Saffronart Foundation

CURATORIAL NOTE
• Roobina Karode

ESSAYS
• The Embodied Image: Roobina Karode
• (Tyeb’s Diagonal): Ashok Vajpeyi
• To Pick Up a Brush: Gieve Patel

IN FOCUS
• Drawing Life: Aditi Ghildiyal
• An Unusual Gathering: Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi

ARTWORKS
• Precarity
• Tactility
• Intensity
• Tenacity
• Mythology
• Gravity
• Duality
• Community
• Exhibition Views

• Timeline
• About the Artist
• List of Artworks
• About KNMA
ISBN 9789394501195
Pages 240
Number of photographs 180
Size 9 x 10.5” (229 x 267 mm), hc-plc
Date of Publishing 30th Aug. 2026
Language(s) English
Co-publisher(s) Mapin Publishing
Rights Available World Rights

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