Nikhil Biswas. Zeichnungen und Rollbilder aus Indien

The idea for the exhibition originated in a meeting between Biswas and the GDR's delegation at the Bombay Triennial of 1965, art historian Diether Schmidt and painter Maler Karl-Erich Müller. In conversation with art historian Angelika Weißbach, Schmidt described in retrospect that "despite all the contradictory contrasts, they felt a sense of kinship" with Biswas and recognized an affinity of his work to art in the GDR. The exhibition was eventually organised together with the Ministry of Culture of the GDR and the Deutsch-Südostasiatische Gesellschaft in der DDR. It contained five large rolling pictures (oil and packing paper) as well as 25 feather pen drawings. An 18-page catalogue in German and English was published to accompany the exhition which later traveled to Halle and Magdeburg.

Catalogue: Nikhil Biswas: Calcutta [Ausstellung; Leonhardi-Museum Dresden, 15.5. - 12.6.1966 ; Kleine Galerie, Halle/Saale, 9.8.-2.9.1966 ; Grafikkreis im Deutschen Kulturbund, Magdeburg, Kammerspiele, vom 25. 9. bis 23.10.1966], Dresden 1966.

Reference: Angelika Weißbach, Frühstück im Freien. Freiräume im offiziellen Kunstbetrieb der DDR. Die Ausstellungen und Aktionen im Leonhardi-Museum in Dresden 1963-1990. Dissertation Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2009, S. 82-83.

In the digital collections of SLUB/Deutsche Fotothek there are several photographs of the exhibition opening: Deutsche Fotothek