THE INDIAN FILES

Edited by Shanay Jhaveri, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Assistant Curator of South Asian Art, this book is a much-needed volume about the Indian art scene. Conversations with M.F. Husain, Gulam Mohammed Sheik, Geeta Kapur, Vivan Sundaram, Nalini Malani, Dayanita Singh, Amar Kanwar, Zarina Hashmi, Shilpa Gupta, Bharti Kher and Raqs Media Collective, among others--all born between 1915 and 1976--map the evolution of contemporary art in India from its Independence in 1947--the starting point of an artistic revival. The artists notably express the will to break with an established nationalist art and to respond to the lack of institutional support in the second half of the 20th century.