Modern Indian art differed significantly from that of the West. When modern art came up in Europe, how did its modern artists see themselves?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → As avant garde, or at the frontier of change
Option (1) As citizens aware of their role in a democracy — Incorrect. This describes the Baroda Art School artists of the 1980s. Many of them became aware of their role as citizens in a democracy.
Option (2) As avant garde, or at the frontier of change — Correct. The modern artists of Europe saw themselves as avant garde, at the frontier of change from tradition to modernity.
Option (3) As artists free from any ideology — Incorrect. This was the claim of Group 1890, in the manifesto J. Swaminathan wrote for the group in 1963.
Option (4) As seeing the world from the eyes of the oppressed — Incorrect. This describes Indian artists like Arpita Singh, Nalini Malani and Sudhir Patwardhan, who painted the plight of people in big cities.
Note: This topic was not named in the CUET 2026 syllabus, but it was part of the NCERT chapter. In 2025 and 2026, NTA also asked questions on topics in NCERT that the CUET syllabus did not name. So our mocks have questions from every part of the NCERT chapter, to give you enough practice. Read the whole chapter, not only the sub-topics named in the syllabus.
NCERT (2026-27): “Tracing the Modern Indian Art …In the West, particularly in Europe, modern art came up when academic realism in art academies began to be rejected. These modern artists saw themselves as avant garde or at the frontier of change from tradition to modernity. With the phenomenal development of technology after the Industrial Revolution, the traditional art that decorated churches and palaces lost its meaning. Early modern French artists like Edouard Manet, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet and others saw themselves working outside the main art institutions.” |