Ganesh Pyne and his art of melancholy

Ganesh Pyne’s canvas often resonates the uncomfortable yet inevitable side of living beings, ‘Death’. Being a contemporary artist of Bengal school, his very Indian yet dark artworks revolve around the legends and lore of Bengal. Having been born and brought up in Kolkata’s decaying buildings and listening to stories narrated by his grandmother about Bengali folklores and reading through Bengali Children’s magazines, his imagination received wings that was hard to contain. However, it was Kolkata riots during pre-independence time in 1946 that left a lasting impression on his 9 years old brain, when he encountered countless dead bodies piled one over the other. This incident moulded his artistic fancy destine towards shady imagery and eerie fantasy.

Born in 1937, Pyne joined Government college of Arts and Craft in 1959 after finishing school and was particularly drawn towards the skeletal remains of humans and animals. This eventually became the subject of his canvas with death being the epicentre of his paintings. In 1960s he started his career at Mandar Mullick’s studio by working as a book illustrator and sketching for animated movies. He also joined Society of Contemporary Artists. It was hard to make ends meet those days as he had little money to buy colours. Yet he kept drawing with pen and ink. His first painting was titled ‘Winter morning’ picturing him and his brother going to school together. Although, he was a calm and composed man outside, his art was rebellious, venting his anger and dismay in the form of skull, cadavers, creepy faces in the backdrop of dark and blue shades. He even depicted less noticed mythological characters like Amba, Ekalavya and others whose life was reflective of miseries and curse. His art is a visual tour to the horrors perceived and experienced by him and his characters. Pyne started with watercolour but eventually moved to gouache and later to tempera as his medium.

However, Pyne did not always make shady paintings, some of his early works in watercolours drew inspiration from Abhinandranath, Hals Rembrandt and Paul Klee’s work. Nevertheless, it was his unique work of shady art that brought him fame. He often drew inspiration from traditional Indian puppetry, drama and movies. All his works resonate death either in its hues or figures. Frayed buildings cry out loud its uncanny past, a solitary fisherman is seen trapped in his own fishing net, while a distant trader sees his own shadow as death. Be it flickering lights or beheaded hero or predator approaching a prey; all speak one truth, that death is inevitable. Despite producing successful works in 1970s, he stayed away from the public eye for a while due to the envy & bitterness among his peers and commercialism in art industry. He was a man who often kept himself away from limelight and chose to exhibit his work in limit. As an artist he preferred to paint but not commercialize it. It was only after his marriage that he realized the importance of life & love and broke his bubble to come out and express. In fact, his first solo exhibition was held in his 50s.

As a painter and draughtsman, he exhibited his works in several solo and group shows across nation and the world. His work was received well and was often appreciated for his style. He was bestowed with many awards for his work including the Raja Ravi Varma award from Kerala Government and Life time achievement award by Indian Chamber of Commerce. Ganesh Pyne’s life has been an inspiration to many which is why many books have been published discussing his works and life. A movie by Buddhadeb Dasgupta on Ganesh Pyne’s life ‘A Painter of Eloquent Silence: Ganesh Pyne’ received National award for Best Arts movie in 1998. He was a critically acclaimed artist, who was described as ‘a poet of melancholia’ by art critic Ranjit Hoskote, while the celebrated artist M F Hussain described him as ‘India’s best artist’. Though a man of few words, his brush was verbose with reality of life seeping through it for the world to look at. He breathed his last in 2013, but he left his thoughts on the canvas for the world to see and savour for eternity.

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Haku Shah: Re-living Gandhi

Haku Shah’s canvas provides a cognizance into the Indian tribal heritage. His paintings are aperture between tribal art & craft and the rest of the world. Having spent his boyhood close to tribal belt in a Gujarati village, he developed a deep sense of connection with these indigenous groups of India, that stayed with him forever. However, his work in Gandhi Ashram in his early days of career reflects its influence in his artworks often projecting sanctity and peace in being Swadeshi, reasoning his belief in staying minimalistic. Nevertheless, his pieces of art also often speak volumes about Hindu mythical characters under the backdrop of humble and rustic setup, such as Lord Krishna playing his flute, while cows encircle him. Every piece of his work is an adage to humanity, harmony and belief.

Born in a village called Valod, Surat, India in 1934 his tender mind naturally inclined towards different forms of art including music and poetry. He pursued his bachelors and masters degree in fine arts from the popular M S University, Baroda under the tutelage of legendary artists/teacher K G Subramanian and N S Bendre. He says when he first entered the Baroda school three things inspired him and shaped him into what he is today – village, tribal world and Philosophy of Gandhi. These encounters had inked his passion for folk and tribal art & craft in his mind, that awaited its outburst in the form of paintings and documentaries later. His experience with tribal lifestyle has taught him that they are wealthy in true sense as music and art is etched in their genes. They celebrate life with colours, delicacies, melodies and moves as though inferring that happiness is a state of mind and has nothing to do with money. He worked briefly in National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, post which he was awarded Nehru fellowship which collectively encouraged him to stay dedicated to tribal art.

Artist Haku Shah has extensively presented his works across the planet, that introduced the simplicity and vibrancy of lesser known pockets of India to the world. He has worked tirelessly towards the improvement of tribal society by bringing their work into the limelight through workshops and exhibitions. He worked with Weaver’s Service Centre that associated directly with weavers across India. He was invited by renowned art historian Dr. Stella Kramrisch to curate seminal exhibition Unknown India that travelled to the USA. He jointly designed and curated an exhibition on clay - Maati Ye Tere Roop in Crafts Museum, Delhi and set up crafts village called Shilpgram in Udaipur. Apart from these, artist Haku Shah has made several solo and group exhibitions too. His latest exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi’s life and narrative called Nitya Gandhi : Living Re-living Gandhi, rekindled the memories of Bapu and sent across the message of peace, equality and unity to young and old alike. He is a curator of Museum for Tribal Cultures at Gujarat Vidyapeeth. Aside from restoring tribal art in India, he has associated with several international museums like the Mingi International Museum of World Folk Art in San Diego, California; Museum of Mankind, London and the Tropical Museum, Amsterdam. He has penned many books for children. He has published extensively on Indian art & crafts and have composed couple of films on the subject. He has taught at School of Architecture, Ahmedabad for many years and served as Regent Professor at the University California, Davis. He is a Chairman and founder trustee of Bhooma Lok Shilpa Sansthan, Gujarat.

Artist Haku Shah is a man-on-mission, with a career spanning more than half a century and a contribution so rich and significant to the world of art. He is been bestowed with several prestigious awards including a Padma Shri by President of India. His inclination towards collecting art and documenting them extensively, alongside encouraging the art and the artisan makes him a sincere artist, anthropologist and an art historian. As a teacher he often instructed his students to avoid unnecessary waste by using extravagant colours, something that Gandhi himself edified the society. He believes that Indian artists in today’s time should stay decked to their roots and pick inspiration from their rich culture and tradition instead of seeing the west. His message to youth is to have unfailing rigour to learn by observing and imbibing. He currently lives and works in Ahmedabad. Shah has dedicated his life in the upliftment of lesser privileged yet talented societies, which makes him a real Gandhian. As the renowned artist Amit Ambalal puts it “There you can see the Gandhi in him, in the concern for the lowest person", he truly has re-lived Gandhi.

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Raza and his centre of life ‘Bindu’

Syed Haider Raza, a name that found its fame across the continents for his pure pageantry of stupendous artworks. He is perhaps one of those very uncommon early artists who ignited India’s fame on international platform through his sheer flair for brushstroke, yet his art knows no boundaries. His work scales from European expressionism to geometric abstraction with eventual 

focus on Indian element ‘Bindu’ or dot, the source of energy.                                                                   

As a young lad, Raza was entranced by the magnificence of forest in his birthplace Babaria, Madhya Pradesh where his father was a forest ranger. Although, he took to art as a child, he held the images of these picturesque flora and fauna in his mind to capture it later in his canvases; something that is evident in his early canvases as a professional artist.  After his high school at Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, he moved to Nagpur to pursue his education in Nagpur School of Art followed by a masters in Sir J J School of Art, Bombay. It is here that he pioneered the Bombay Progressive artists group along with other members including M.F Hussain, F. N Souza etc. in 1947. The group was influenced by western modernism yet bringing out ‘Antar Gyan’ or inner vision of Indian art to the world. He soon moved to France through a French government Scholarship to study at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His exposure to European art inspired him to experiment with French expressionism and eventually abstraction. He later became a visiting lecturer in University of Berkeley, California and he found inspiration in American landscapes.

Although, Raza made France his home and married a French artist Janine Mongillat, his heart was locked in his home country. He wanted to feel the waves of river Narmada, smell the petrichor of his village, listen to the chirps of sparrows in his portico. By 1970s the successful artist started questioning his inner drive and often went on a pilgrimage to India. His travels to Banaras, Gujarat, Rajasthan and many more cleared the clouds in his mind and made him find a new dimension to his purpose. His canvases spoke louder than ever with vibrant colours and shapes, ‘Bindu’ became his centre of subject and remained so until his last painting. He recalls how ‘Bindu’ was meant to happen in his art, as back in his school days he was often asked to concentrate on a dot or ‘Bindu’ to improve his attention in class by his teacher. He even started highlighting concepts of space and time, energies of female and male called ‘Prakriti - Purusha’ and various spiritual concepts in his paintings. His art took a significant leap to geometric abstraction which was well received by his onlookers. In 2010 he decided to return to India, never to go back again after his beloved wife’s sad demise.

Being one of the most eminent artists of India with a huge international recognition, he presented his work across the globe including solo exhibitions in New York, Royal Academy of Arts at London, Biennales of Venice, Lalit Kala akademi, India and many more. He was bestowed with countless awards including India’s prestigious Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan and the respectable French Legion of Honour. His art often sold for big bucks, so much so that one of his art sold for more than 18 crores at Christie’s auction. Yet he never cared for the price tags, but for the art and the artists. He created Raza foundation to help budding artists grow through fellowships and awards every year. For Raza art kept gushing through his veins, even in his 90s he never stopped painting. He painted to live and lived to paint because that’s what his passion and his faith was in. On July 23^rd 2016, Raza breathed his last and was buried next to his father’s grave in Mandala. He left a legacy that would keep inspiring youth to work hard and keep dreaming. His narrative of rustic village boy making India famous at international scale and yet helping Indians like him have a big vision through his foundation is something that would last for ages. He was a life long student, he believed in learning and implementing it without succumbing to situations be it age, loss or location. The magnitude of his achievements could have easily made him retire early, yet he painted and he painted till he breathed his last. Raza’s life is a strong message to youth that ‘the only wall between you and your dreams are you alone’.

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JAYASRI BURMAN –the woman behind mythical canvas

It is not every day that you see a simple canvas reflecting ordinary beings, transform into contours of sheer grandeur and divinity under the tip of a brush. Artist JayasriBurman’sbrush stroke over the years has metamorphosed into works that project ordinary men and women with heroic characters raised to the level of Gods and Goddesses often surrounded by hybrid creatures. Simple characters like a mother nurturing a child or a girl trying to find her identity, are often bestowed with wings to fly or fins to swim in Jayasri’s work, redefining their freedom, desire, and strength. Perhaps, she sees in ordinary people an extraordinary ability to evolve and flourish.

Born in the city of Joy, Kolkata, her early life was soaked in festivities, colors, and spirituality. It is no surprise that her artwork celebrates the feminism and womanhood likened to the female mythical characters of Indian legends often worshipped in the form of Goddess Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Every so often, she picks a central character, usually a woman and weaves a story around her with crossed creatures flying, floating or just standing around, transcending the possibilities in Life science. Her art speaks the language of her imagination with subtle surprises, sometimes by the presence of a swan, mermaid, pigeon, parrot etc. Her desire to be free and nomadic as these birds or animals makes her canvas and sculpture invariably fabled and enchanting. As a child, she was always inclined towards writing and poetry, but she also knew that she was destined to be an artist as she was often inspired by her famous uncle and artist Sakti Burman, a contemporary Indian artist living in France. The enigma in her work is a powerful souvenir of her metier and personage.

But her art was not always this mystic as today, one can find a distinct transformation in her work of art from late 20th to early 21st century. Having completed her education from Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan and Visual College of Art, Kolkata, she went to learn printmaking in Paris under the guidance of Monsieur Ceizerzi. Initially, she started painting an impressionist style with pen and ink, but later she used various media and techniques including etching, printmaking, and sculpting. Many of her early works captured the many parts of India and its people, which were reminiscent of her new-found vocation for travel back to 1990s. Being a budding artist, she was trying to create her identity through her innocent, yet delightful paintings, which earned her a lot of appreciation. Her earlier canvasses echoed her simplicity as an artist, but as her art transformed under her brush, so did her persona as an individual. As her ability to create flawless paintings evolved, her canvases became more intricate and bold, each image reverberating feminism and strength through larger than life characters.

According to the artist, her love for travel gives her inspiration to paint and her prayers give her strength to keep doing her work with honesty. However, like a child seeking refuge in her mother’s anchal, she found solace in painting what she believed in and not what the world demanded. she always comes back to the epics and fables she has grown up with. Her art mirrors her inner self, nostalgia, touched antiquities, perceptions, and aspirations. Despite facing several personal tragedies, she believes in smiling and spreading the smile. Her motto is to disseminate love, peace, and harmony through her paintings and bring people closer to nature. According to her, we are so accustomed to living in this ‘concrete jungle’ that we have forgotten the real beauty of nature and therefore the many natural elements in her canvases remind us of our roots.

She is conferred with many awards including the National Award by Govt. of India in 1985 for her graphics. In 1987 her works were featured in International Triennale in Germany, during the same year she received a certificate of merit from All India Youth Art Exhibition. She has exhibited her work extensively, solo and joint across the length and breadth of India and the globe. Despite being an artist with immense accomplishments, she never stops her desire to learn and create ebullient images with her unique brushstrokes or lifelike sculptures with her tools. Being an indefatigable creator of bold and beautiful fairy-tale art and being a female protagonist in the male dominant profession, Jayasri sets an example and continues to inspire a generation of artists to come.

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Masuram Ravikanth Paintings in Hyderabad

The works of artist Ravikanth Masuram looks back atthe bygone era, while recontextualising the narrative and memory in modern times. His recent ‘Royal dict art’ and studio photography art was inspired by the memories he gathered from his father’s photo studio. His horse series makes every adult re-live the childhood through imagery of their long-lost toys. He earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from M M K Visual Arts, Gulbarga University and his master’s degree in painting from University of Hyderabad. He is being bestowed with Lalit Kala Academy Award, Karnataka and National Scholarship from Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.

Bhaskar Rao Artist

Having drawn inspiration from trees and their very existence ever since the inception of life on earth, artist Bhaskar Rao feels proud to have given voice to these underrated yet vital beings through his canvas. As a teacher and Dean of Arts at Loyola Academy, he inspires his students to be creative and passionate about art. He has obtained his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Andhra University and a master’s degree from University of Hyderabad. He is being bestowed with Lalit Kala Academy award from Karnataka government and Karnataka Rajyotsavaaward.

Nagesh Goud

The central character in his artworks draw inspiration from Indian mythology, while his art forms are very similar to traditional art of Kalamkari and Paithan art. He uses bold hues to project his audacious character embellished with intricate stories. His art depicts ancient history in fresh look.  He obtained his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from college of fine arts, JNTU, Hyderabad. He is being conferred with an award from Lalit Kala Samiti Siddipet and puppet maker-11 award by Hyderabad art society.

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