Srinagar, Dec. 7 -- Art history is often divided into neat periods for convenience, yet the reality is far more fluid. Few distinctions cause as much confusion as the one between Modern Art and Contemporary Art. Both appear experimental and revolutionary, but their intentions, intellectual foundations, and historical contexts differ profoundly. The line separating the two is thin, yet it reshapes the very purpose of art.

Before Modern Art emerged in the late nineteenth century, the art world was dominated by what is known as Traditional or Academic Art-an era stretching from Classical Antiquity through the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Academic Realism. Art was governed by strict rules of proportion, perspective, anatomy, and idealiz...