Correct Option
The correct option is 2 and 3 only.
Explanation
The Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) was a pivotal movement in the history of modern Indian art, established to foster an avant-garde international style distinct from earlier nationalist and academic traditions.
Statement-wise Analysis
- Statement 1 is Incorrect. The Progressive Artists’ Group was formed in Bombay in 1947, shortly after India's independence. The art group formed in Calcutta in 1943, against the backdrop of the Bengal Famine, was the Calcutta Group.
- Statement 2 is Correct. F.N. Souza, a founding member and the ideologue of the group, adopted a bold, expressionist style. He is well-known for painting women as nudes with distorted and exaggerated proportions, deliberately challenging conventional aesthetics and societal norms.
- Statement 3 is Correct. The group explicitly sought to break away from the revivalist nationalism of the Bengal School of Art and the rigid academic realism taught in British art schools. They aimed to synthesize Indian themes with modern European techniques (such as Post-Impressionism and Cubism).
Key Takeaway: The Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) was founded in Bombay (1947) by artists including F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara, H.A. Gade, and S.K. Bakre to establish a secular and modernist idiom in Indian art.