n "The Tale of the Talking Face," eminent Indian artist K. G. Subramanyan offers a stinging parable of democracy gone wrong by narrating and illustrating the story of a princess whose autocratic rule brought nothing but suffering to her people, despite her ambition of progress for her country. A thinly veiled satire on the political drama of 1970s India, "The Tale""of the Talking Face "is a universal record of the ever-deepening crisis of democracy and the threat of totalitarianism. Subramanyan s] art is radical in content, open in its approach to style and aesthetic ideas, meeting the...