NATVAR BHAVSAR

India, b. 1934

Natvar Bhavsar is a contemporary American artist of Indian origin. He lives and works in SoHo, New York. Colors are his medium, Bhavsar has been exploring the sensual, emotional, and intellectual resonance of color since the early 1960s. His paintings evince influences from his childhood in India, surrounded by vivid textiles, practicing rangoli, and witnessing the Holi Festival, and adulthood in New York in the 1960s and ’70s, in a milieu that included fellow Abstract Expressionists like Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Ray Parker. To make his paintings, which range from intimate to grand, Bhavsar sifts powdered pigments onto canvas, allowing air currents and his own breath and body movements to determine where they fall, creating layered compositions. As a notable abstract expressionist and color field artist, his paintings appear in more than 800 private and public collections, including Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, the Library of Congress and the Australian National Gallery.

 

Solo Exhibitions

2019 Natvar Bhavsar, BEGINNINGS, Aicon Art, New York, NY

2018 Natvar Bhavsar Elements of Colour, HG Contemporary Madrid, Spain

2017 Phenomenon, HG Contemporary, New York, NY

2017 DAG Modern Gallery, London

2016 Natvar Bhavsar: The Dimension of Color, Museum of Art DeLand, DeLand, FL.

2015 Natvar Bhavsar: Five Decades, Cara Gallery, NYC, NY

2014 RANG RASA (Transcendent Color), Gallery at Tower 49, Tower 49, NY, NY

2014 White Symphonies and Red Flowers, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita Ks.

2014 Color Immersion Baker Sponder, Boca Raton, FL

2013 Color Immersion, Sponder Gallery, Miami, FL

2013 Energy of Color, Freedman Art, New York, NY

2012 Resonance of Color, Contessa Gallery, Cleveland, OH

2010 RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong

2009 RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA

2008 RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2007 The Dimensions of Color, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick

2006 Poetics of Color, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2005 Small Scale Paintings, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2005 Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2004 Small Scale Paintings, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2003-2004 ACP Viviane Ehrli Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

2003-2004 Art-garage, Zug, Switzerland

2003 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2002 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2001 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2000 Art-Garage, Zug, Switzerland

2000 Dialectica Gallery, New York, NY, Celebration Colors: Three Decades of Painting

2000 World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting 2000, Davos, Switzerland

1998 & 1999 Art Cologne, International Art Fair, ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Cologne, Germany

1997 ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland - Paintings

1996 Bose-Pacia Modern Gallery, New York, NY - Pastels and paintings on paper

1992 Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor, FL, Paintings

1988 Pundole Art Gallery, Bombay, India, Pastels - Paintings on Paper

1988 Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad, India, Pastels - Paintings on Paper

1985 Pembroke Gallery, Houston, TX

1985 The Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS, Twenty Years of Work on Paper

1984 Getler/Pall/Saper Gallery, New York, NY

1979 The Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS, Color Experiences

1978 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1978 Max Hutchinson Gallery, Houston, TX

1978 Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL

1977 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1977 Kingpitcher Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA

1977 Suzette Schochet Gallery, Newport, RI

1974 Kenmore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1974 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1972 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1972 Gallery A, Sydney, Australia

1971 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1970 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1970 Gallery A, Sydney, Australia

1970 Gallery Chemould, Bombay, India

1969 Obelisk Gallery and Parker 470, Boston, MA

1968 Obelisk Gallery, Boston, MA

1967 University of Delaware, Newark, DE

1967 University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

1964 Art Alliance of Philadelphia, YM-YMHA Art Council, Philadelphia, PA

1963 Kenmore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2017 Delhi Art Gallery Modern New Delhi “Memory and Identity,Indian Artists Abroad”   

2016 Delhi Art Gallery Modern NYC “Memory and Identity,Indian Artists Abroad”

2016 Aicon Gallery, NYC “Split Visions Abstraction in Modern Indian Painting”

2015 Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano,”Don’t shoot the Painter” Paintings from the UBS Art Collection, Milan Italy

2014 Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery, Group Show, NYDec

2014 Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Ks., Storytelling: Highlights and Insights from the Wichita Art Museum Collection Sept … ongoing.

2012 National Art Gallery, Canberra, Australia, Abstract Expressionism 7’12-3’13

2011 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Facing East

2011 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, Forces of Nature

2010 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong, RASA, Contemporary Asian Art

2010 Seonhwa Art and Culture Foundation Gal, Taekwang Industries Co. LTD, Seoul, Korea, Mirrors of Continuous Change

2010 Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS, 75 Years of Collecting American Art

2009 Museo Fortuny, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Italy,

2009 InfinitumCampbelltown ArtsCenter, New South Wales, Australia Gallery A

2009 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, The Third Mind

2009 Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL, Late 20th Century Abstraction from the Collection       

2008 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, Dimensions of Color

2008 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, In Your Mind’s Eye

2008 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong, East/West: Grand Opening Group Show

2008 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Drishti: Pan-Asian Group Show

2008 Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ, Midnight Full of Stars

2007 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Colors

2007 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Inner Journey

2007 Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, Back to the Future Contemporary American Art from the Collection

2006 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Next Level

2006 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, East/West

2005 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Time and Material

2003 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2003 Continuous Connection, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY

2003 Seeing Red, Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY

2002 Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, State Univ. of NJ, NJ, 2002 India: Contemporary Art from Northeastern Private Collections, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, Compass Points

2001 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY, The Inner World

2001 Asian American Art Center, New York, NY, The Inner World

2001 Art Cologne, International Art Fair, Cologne, Germany

2001 ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland

1998 ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland

1998 Forum Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt, Germany, 3 immerzeit 3

1997 Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, NY, Abstraction INDEX

1995 La Raccolta D'Arte Contemporanea, Le Nuove Donazioni, Museo Civico, Taverna, Italy

1991 Nel Piu'Ampio Cerchio, Angolazioni E Prospettive Della Visione Nell' Arte Contemporanea, Centro Museografico, Taverna, Italy

1991 Il Sud Del Mondo, L'Altra Arte Contemporanea, Galleria Civica D'Arte, Pizzo, Italy

1981 Fifth Triennial, New Delhi, India

1979 Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY, Works on Paper, U.S.A.

1978 Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, Painting and Sculpture Today

1974 Ruth S. Schaffner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1974 Reed College, Portland, OR, Eight from New York

1973 Works on Paper, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY

1973 American Academy of Arts and Letters Art Gallery, New York, NY

1971 New York Survey, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN

1971 Beaux Arts, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, OH

1971 Aspects of Current Painting, University of Rochester, New York, NY

1970 Parker Street 470 Gallery, Boston, MA, Insights - 1970

1970 Reese Palley Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Some New York Painting

1970 Selections by Guest Curator, School of Visual Arts Art Gallery, New York, NY

1970 Jewish Museum, New York, NY, Beautiful Painting and Sculpture

1970 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Whitney Annual

1970 Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, Painting and Sculpture Today

1970 Larry Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield, CT, Highlights of the Season

1970 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Recent Acquisitions

1970 Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, PA, Two Generations   of color Painting

1970 Power Institute, University of Sydney, Australia, Recent Acquisitions

1969 Vassar College of Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY, Concept

1966 American Society for Eastern Arts, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, Contemporary Indian Arts

1966 Fifteenth Biennial Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY   

1964 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, PA, Regional Painting and Sculpture

1961 National Art Exhibition, Amritsar, India

1961 Progressive Painters of Amsavad, India

1961 Gujarat State Art Exhibition, Amdavad, India

1961 Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, Amdavad, India

1961 Rabindra Shatabdi Exhibition, Calcutta, India

1960 Bombay Art Society Annual Art Exhibition, Bombay, India – Special Mention

1956 Bombay State Art Exhibition, Bombay, India - Prize

 

Museum & Public Collections

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Collection, Bathurst, Australia

Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI

Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL

Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI

Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Long Island, NY

Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

State University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Whitney Museum of American Art, NJ

Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS

 

FEATURED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Please click on any of the below links to download the PDF.

2015 Five Decades, Natvar Bhavsar, “Natvar Bhavsar’s Threshold of Purity”, Robert C. Morgan and “Natvar Bhavsar: An Interview with Irving Sandler” by Akaash, Mehta, catalogue, Cara Gallery, New York, New York

2006 Natvar Bhavsar Poetics of Color, Carter Ratcliff, catalogue, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Publishing, New York, NY

1984 Arts Magazine, "Painting of Natvar Bhavsar", Lowery Sims. December

1977 Art International, “The Palpably Immateral: New Works by N. Bhavsar", Elwyn Linn, March-April. March Arts Magazine, April

1972 Art International, "Natvar Bhavsar: The Purpose of Looking", Carter Ratcliff, May