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VRISHCHIK Marcb, 1973 Year: 4
No. 1.
Editors:
Cover: STUDY FOR GUERNICA. MAY. 1. 1937 by PICASSO
Gulam Sheikh Bbupen Kbakhar Address : B/2 Shirali Apartment., Fatebgunj, Baroda 2. Gujarat-INOIA. Annual Subscription: Rupees 10/- ( inland 1.
$ 5 or £ 2. (Sea mail) $ 10 or £ 4. (Air mail) Space donations : Bharat Lindner Pvt. Ltd ., Baroda. Cbika Ltd., Bombay. Mercury Paints and Varnis hes Ltd, Bombay. Lakhia Brothers, Baroda. Jyoti Color-Emag Ltd ., Baroda-3. India Tobacco Company Ltd., Calcutta.
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The Exotic and the Ambiguous Some Recurrent Tendencies in Modern Indian Painting
N ilima Sheikh Modern painting in fndia, it seems, was 'born' with an eclectic tendency. Despit~ the rapid and seemingly revolutionary changes that have taken place in this centnry and
as pretexts.
the latter half of the last, in the western world" the
traditionally have a specific purpose of narrating a story,
continuous chains of development are apparent.
Modern
art grew out of a changing society, each change -bad a reference to its past.
Tn India, this was not possible. The
specific impulses that generated a new art in India belonged to a society fairly remote from ils traditional precedent.
British colonialism which had brought down the tradi tional social order, had created a time-void in the cultural field. It had necessarily to be a 'new' artist who had to emerge into an identity out of this situation.
Eclecticism has served both as a stepping-stone and as a pitfall. Modern painting in India, precariously wedged as it is, between an overwhelming indigenous past and an engulfing western, modern tradition, has inevilably found . itself caught in an ambigious network of values. As a result
within this framework he chose to work therf" was a functi on
of the literary themes he chose, or did they merely serve Literary themes, when they have been painted
Narrative, with ils implications of time~sequeDces conditioned
the form devised for such purposes. In as hybrid a form as that employed in the Kangra paintings. where attempts at three-dimension and illusionistic space Interfered with th e conventionalized treatment of time and space, there is a rational and concrete validity for thematic nar ration in its form. Motifs of incident occurring in time and space are situated in an unmeasured hence limitless space, thus negating the moment of climax of an event occurring in lime. Painters in Europe after the Renaissance, wh ile they continued to narrate incidents always chose from it the aspect most suitable for their means. Baroque painters
with lheir interest in the dramatic use of light and complex
values set by either of the trends are all too easily 路ascribed
movement chose to describe events of a dramatic nature.
to modern Indian painting. For example, it has been a common practice to designate Gaganendranath Tagorc: a Cubist painter because some of his paintings have something
of drama was suffic ient to work as a disassociated aspect
usually depicting the moment of climax in which tbe sense of the total narrative. It can easily be appreciated lhat the
of the appearance of post- Cubist trends, particularly
sen~e
theatre design. This howeve r does not necessa rily point to a criteria for his art. Of len values have been impo sed upon painters by patrons and writers on modern Indian painting
quite the same.
and they bave had their role in perpetuating this ambiguity. hven a writer like Havell misconstrued the intentions of Abanindranath Tagore by calling him a revivalist because the latter showed an bwareness of traditional art. There is obviously no harm in subscribing to the devices of western art or traditional lodian painting becaust! awareness of the two is part of (he modern artist's make up. But whether they guarantee the same conviction in a changed environment is a problem the modern painter here
is constantly faced with. The problem remains basically the same when Ravi Varma attempted to use the British academic framework to narrate Indian legends and when a
painter like Jehangir Sabavala tries to impose the devices of Cubism on pastoral scenes. Whatever motives urged Ravi Varma to paint themes and
legends from Indian mythology, the question is whether
of drama in Indian and European tradition is not
All this leads to the complexity of the
problem Ravi Verma undertook when he chose to paint
Indian legends within the framework of British academic painting. He adopted a fo rm which particularized t.ime and space and yet attempted to tell a narrative. As a result, his paintings most of the time, appear like tableaus enacted
in front of back drops. The kind of British academic painting that Ravi Varma was
exposed to and sought to emulate was a fairly watered-down version of the post-Baroque academic tradition. [n Europe, these kinds of paintings were intended to depict pleasing scenes of social life and evoke an atmosphere, suitable to the complacency of the social environment. Growing out
of a continuing tradition, this type of painting was parti ally acceptable in Europe. Redundant as this system had become, these paintings nevertheless held a certain conviction
because they were the reflection of the accumulated taste of society-its way of living. The postures and poses, the coiffeurs and corsages , the rosy pink cheeks and nipples and tbe sense of pleasure and good life were a particular part
of European life. These, when Ravi Varma tried to implan~ on the life of Rama and Sita or the Malabar fisherfolk lost their context and verged on the borderline of the theatric and ludicrous.
of the British academic art.
Ravi Varma's predicament when confronted with a western mode is not so remote as it may seem. The continual
where a less derivative form could emerge. The British academic manner which was adopted was at least in currency, in howsoever a limited fashion.
invasions of western art forms have raised many paraliel situations. Painters like Sabavala have facod not dissimilar problems in their relationship with Cubism . A word about Cubism might make the point clearer: "The Cubists felt their way picture by picture, towards a new synthesis, which in terms of painting was the philosophical equivalent of the revolution which was also dependent on the new materials and the new means of production . ...
"The Cubists created a system by which t~ey could reveal visually the interlocking of phenomena. And thus they created in art the possibility of revealing process instead or static states of being . Cubism is an art entirely concerned with interaction; the interaction between different aspects; the interaction between structure and movement; the interaction between solids and the space around them; the interaction between the unambiguous signs made on the
surface of rhe picture and the changing reality which they stand in for" (John Berger). The society in which Cubism emerged and held most conviction scarcely bas a counterpart in India, To place it in a new context itself was a sufficient handicap for an Indian painter. It appears that the painter conversant with a filtered down version of Cubism mistook certain stylistic
conventions like prismatic dispersal of objects and sharp angularities for a specific relationship between art and reality. These conventions when imposed on a naturalistic visualization of a pastoral scene were bound to create an awkward relationship.
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x
x
From the colonial situation two attitudes emerged. One of the alternative left for an Indian artist was to acceept the available British idiom and match the British at their own
game. It must also be noted that British art at that time was particularly insular, caught up in a decadent tradition while Europe had taken long strides ahead; and that India was exposed mainly to a second or third hand version
This srance that Ravi
Varma and others took, might not appear as naive and servile, if it is recognized to what extent the society in
which they functioned was robbed of a social organism
The other alternativo was to refer to the Indian past. to attempt to assemble a valid environment in which special
Indian ideals could be evoked, so as to be able to throw off the man tIe of inferiority in which Indian culture and society had been shrouded. The nsurrection of the traditional Indian artist was no longer possible. But it was necessary to restore the past; a meaningful tradition, the values of which could be pitted against those of western naturalism, to emphasize the unique nature of Indian art.
However, the polarity of these attitudes is only a theoretical one, enforced by writers and classifiers,
The movement of
painting initiated by Havell and Abanindranath waS born Ollt of the cultural regeneration which was a part of the
Swadeshi movement.
Its immediate swing into popularity
and its comparitively widespread accep~ance was partly due to the prevalent patriotic fervour . On the other hand the political bent tended to obscure its intentions. Even
Havell betrayS the ambiguity of his values when he says," " If neither Mr. Tagore nor his pupils have yet altogether attained to the splendid technique of the old Indian painters, they have certainly revived the spirit of Indian art". Notwithstanding 'labels' Abanindranath was by choice an eclectic.
He himself was quite aware that the traditional
situation could not be re-enacted, and he was a totally modern man in the sense that he realized that insularity was
no longer possible or accepLable in the 20th century.
From
the variety and diversi[y of his work it is clear that he was
not laying down a credo for modern art, but exploring the potential of its resources. He used the means of a westoriented Art Nouveau to evoke the sentiment if not the passion of nationalist India, in search of its sensibiJity.
Sometimes, with his penchant for decoration and an Art Nouveau-tutored spirit of nostalgia, Abanindranath could create pictures of scented sentiment. His personal style was more dependent on his own cultivated taste rather than
any artistic ideology. His interest in story-telling and decoration was regulated by his own often whimsical lensibility. His eclecticism was part of his personality; his technique, the expression of a dilletante. Unfortunately when these were upheld as the principles of the new painting and were painted upon by painters who had outlived tbe situatiou, they were bound to become puerile affectations. It has been a recurrent tendency in the short history of our modern painting to use the style and mannerisms of a
preceding painter as a substitute for an ideology . Each new flux of ideas becomes redundant and clicbe-ridden soon after they are articulated. Painters like Abanindranath and Sber-Gil have left a trail of minor painters wbo have never questioned a morc basic relationship between the 'style' bequeathed to them and reality, or even looked
to the original sources of this style. Repeatedly painters have inbred within their narrow frame of reference to breed further mannerisms.
When Abanindranath painted scenes
question to what extent it can vehicle the emotions and
sensibilities of a context fairly removed from its historical and environmental situation.
German painters found in
Expressionism a potent language to tell of buman anguish, urgency, despair, mutilation, as also, the will to live. Later European and American artists have given the idiom new
dimensions.
The great impact of this tradition has perhaps
made us see the tensions of human emotions in terms of Expressionistic tensions. There is a tendency to see human
psyche in the contortions and postures of the Expressionistic repertoire; to see the metaphor of physicality in the bravura of brush and pigment and to see the ambiguity of art in the ambiguous delineation of form. x x x The recent trend of 'Tantric' art has implications which might not be too far-fetched to compare with those of lamini Roy's art. [n both lamini Roy and the modern 'Tantric' painters there is an effort to effect a dramatic relationship with indigenous motifs. In each case they
from Indian mythology and literature, it had at least a
have heen removed from their context, enlarged and placed
sociological and nationalistic function, but when despite changing circumstances the theme and manner were repeated over and over again, it lost its purpose by becoming a
within frames .
'type' of picture.
And hence it ceased to be any kind of
nationalistic gesture. This inability to find personal visual equivalents to express what is pertinent to us in changed circumstances confounds
lamini Roy was motivated by the desire to reach the people. He wan ted to retain the authenticity of folk art by keeping it as near as possible to the common people. The prices of his paintings were quite low. But his intentions were countered by their very own limitations. Despite his low prices his paintings remained remote to the lower classes.
us even today. European Expressionism entered the Indian scene in the fifties and gave a much needed impetus to
since removed from context they had lost their validity,
painting . By its very nature Expressionism was open to much Jess misunderstanding than any of the more analytical western art-forms, and though it was born out of ib historica l situation, it held an appeal, not merely visual
its motifs and forms grow out of a total relationship witb
which could be universal or individual.
The influence of
Expressionism could and sometimes did serve as a pretext
for splashes of colour, crude lines, bad craftsmanship and poor drawing, but those were 'faults' not only of 'Indian' expressionism. Confrontations with indigenous folk forms and local environment often wrought an effective imagery.
for them.
Folk art has a specific role in its environment,
its material and society.
By encasing them, as it were,
within frames they served at best a decorative function. lamini Roy was unable to find a new function for them. He made the common mistake of misunderstanding the
function of formal devices of folk painting by replacing the buoyant and spontaneous line generated by a sensual form with a heavy regulated binding outline. The stylizations of
Personal sensibilities of painters like Husain found scope
lamini Roy have often been repeated ; they are found un ceramic-ware, .a rte-craft and mantlepiece decorations to have become tedious cliches .
for authentic expression in this contact. However when the language becomes academic and formal ~one begins to
lamini Roy invented a system of curves and sharp angles vagq.ely reminiscent of Picasso, while painters like Biren De
and G. R. Santosh use blurred edges and colour gradations and scale in the manner of American abstractionists like Rothko or Gottlieb or even Frank Stella. But basically the question remains whether the empbasis on Tantric motifs does not obscure the intentions of abstraction,
since th ey carry with them at least historical and evironmenta! connotations. And conversely, whether the function of a Tantric symbol is not lost whell it is taken out of context.
deprived of its original, formal and associational values and clothed in the form of Amer ican abstraction. The premise and values of paintings like these, remain ambiguous. In a sense these modern 'Tantric' paintings remain an extension of the exotic which was one of the earliest tendencies of modern Indian painting - the attitude of establishing an identity through reference to an exotic c ulture and then effecting a compromise with western or western-oriented sen sibilities.
Ravi Varma by painting pictures depicting Indian myths and
India and lately Tantric paintings have interested the historian and artist successively, unfolding a wealth of resources to jelve into. The bewildering magnitude of the discovery of their own heritage has not always left the modern Indian artist in a very comfortable position.
Since the beginning of this movement was in a colonial situation, there was an inevitable tendency to be overly aggressive about the virtues of Indian tradition so as to shake ('I{f the opprcsive 'superiority' of western art.
Indian art was bestowed with general and definitive characteristics to project a powerful image which might be pitted against western naturalism. Qua litative terms like 'spiritual', 'mystic " 'rythmic', 'lyrical' came (Q be used as descriptive and conceptual generalizations tended to give all Indian art a super-real image. The modern [ndian
artist found himself a bit at a lost in this image he himself created. He often thought that the sheltering h~nd of his past would give him sufficient credo to pass muster in a changed environment.
lege nds, marked for himself the special role of an 'Indian'
artist.
He thus preserved within the strata of society he
Gradually, the bias that gave a dominant nationalist
lived, a sanctimonious regard for the exotic Indian past,
overtone to art was exposed to the fungus of a strange
witbout offending its Indo- Anglian taste or values which had become acceptable to it. The role he assumed was the role the society in which he lived offered to nim. The social elite of the late 19th and early 20th century, while adopting
parochial nationalism. Attributes which had been divined from traditional art forms were deprived of their context
consciously and unconsciously European ways of living ,
nevertheless felt that their status and recognition depended
and made fetishes out of. Generalizations made about Indian art for a nationalistic purpose, became sanctimonious
absolutes It became popular to paint fiowing outlines
very much on an evocation of Indian culture ard tradition.
because Indian art was 'linear'. the line most often robbed
This exotic appeal was understandable for the British.
of its generating form . Painters like A. K. Halder used " the slender waist and the snaky finger of Ajanta" in the common delusion that by doing so he would be part of
remole as they were from Indian tradit'ioo.
But for Indians
to celebrate this exotic appeal has implications of artificiality. The nationalist movement with its political bias included a cultural rediscovery and revival initiated by the pioneering
and gigantic efforts of peop le like Havell and Coomaraswamy. A succession of pockets of traditional painting have
been exposed and evaluated since. Ajanta and Bagh frescoes, Mughal miniatures, the folk Patuas of Bengal and Orissa , Rajput and Pahari painting, western Indian manuscripts, folk and lrihal arts and crafts from all over
the mainstream of Indian art with all its mystiCIsm. The modern Indian painte r displayed his remoteness from
tradllion by misunderstanding the function of traditional art in the modern environment. He missed the total concept when he saw 'spiritualism' in isolated stylistic devices. These he rendered in his own paintings as drooping eyelids, curving, curling lines, top-heavy figures with narrow waists or illuminated lingams and yonis to vouchsafe a similar 路spiritualism'.
111 Quest of Identity: Art & Indigenism in post-colonial culture with special reference to contemporary Indian painting
GEETA KAPUR
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(Tliis series of atticles will be published in a book form when conoluded . It will be available on an advance payment of Rs. 1O/~ )
PART III CHAPTER VI
M.
f. HUSAIN (1915-)
Husain was born in [ndore, in tbe Bobra community of Muslims. During the earlier part of his life, he was like bis family, actively religious. Altbougb in recent years, these ties bave loosened, his Muslim background, particularly in all its cultural manifestations, is deeply enduring and unmistakable. Economically bis family belonged to tbe lower levels of a provincial middle-class. His larger family still does and most members are only partially educated. Husain himself did not go to university but sporadically attended the local art college in [ndore. [n 1937 when he was 22, be moved to Bombay to become an artist. He painted cinema boardings for an earning and lived in the city slums. A little later he lived witb bis wife and cbildren, in a small Muslim 'ghetto', where community life wag intimate and without privacy or comforts. It took several years before bis paintings began to be exhibited in tbe exhibitions of the Bombay Art Society and he rame into contact with other Bombay artists He became associated particularly with tm, younger, more vital amongst these and became a founder member of the short-lived but fervent, Bombay Progres~ive Artists' Group. Most of these artists bad to struggle for several years, financially. But by the end of the 1940', there was an active milieu, comprising the cosmopolitanoiO. intelligentsia of Bombay, wbo regarded these artists as the bohemian avant-garde of modern Indian culture.
In this milieu, a few Europeans wbo were war-time exiles from Germany and Austria and had been interested in modern art in Europe, became very influential. Dr. Langb 路mmer, hImself a painter (although mediocre) influenced by Kokoschka, was closely connected with the activities of Indian painters throughout the 1940's. Dr. Rudi von Leyden, a German-educated Dutchman, working in advertising, was Bombay's best art critic and be helped to launch the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, in 1948. Mr. Scblesinger from VieDna, an admirer of Austrian expressionists, bought the early paintings of the artists and in a sense supported Husain in his difficult years in Bombay. In 1955 Husain was recognised by the cultural bureaucracyat Delbi and given an award at their AU India EXhibitipa. After 1953 be went abroad frequently and since then he has sbown his works in ,everal cities of Europe and in the U.S.A. He was one of the first modern artists to be patronised by public institutions in India, as well as by wealtby private collectors. It would be correct to say tbat bis paintings were amongst the first in contemporary Indian art to become 'objects' of profitable investment.
During the early years in Bombay, his life pattern remained entirely traditional and religious. His family, except for [be younger members, are still very traditional - a part
of the enclosed muslim community of urban India. Yet, as I have mentioned earlier, quite soon Husain was
considered on,< of the foremost representatives of the bohemian avant-garde in Bombay. And since then he has come to embody nearly all that the Indian bourgeois audiences cafe to know about 'modern art'. Not unlike his Western counterparts he has been avidly assimilated into 't he sophisticated circles, intellectual or otherwise, irrespective of his class and creed, his anti-intellectualism and personal eccentricities. He is temperamentally a nomad and travels constantly within and outside India. He is completely at home in the village and small town in India and makes an unselfconscious connection with its environment and people. If anything does set him apart, it is his conscious mannerisms of an 'artist' (to which incidentally the unsopbisticated public responds rather as to film stars ). It is with a rich memory and an affection that he returns to his roots. And this we mnst remember, is not u ~ ual for most Indians who have graduated to cosmopolitanism. It is at least partially due to his Muslim background, for Muslims tend to be more tenacious of tbeir roots. Husain has a curious relationship to circumstantial reality: be is always at its outer edges, tbough [do not mean tbis in the sense of an 'outsider'. It is a kind of detachment, not alienation. At least partially tbis seems to be an intuitive shrewdness on his part- a way of not being submerged by circumstances, whether it was the earlier
ortbodoxy and poverty, or his later popularity. In tbat sense continuous travelling is a systematic escape, even as it is his inspiration. For a long time now, he has flirted with tbe city- sophisti -cates and the commercial gallery-men. Unfortunately, in tbe last years it seems he is becoming their victim. It is difficu lt to say whetber tbis surrender which be seems to have instinctively dreaded, comes when his artist's inspiration is spent-and success becomes a substitute for it-or whether the worm lies in the cultural environment represented by a seemingly progressive bourgeoisie with no values and an indiseriminate taste for prestigious 'culture' that denudes tbe artist's quest.
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x
x
The 'topic' which has preoccupied Husain is, the characteristic features 0/ the Indian people, inler-acting with their traditional environment. The subject matter of his paintings has been very varied but lies within these broad intentions. Before [ take up his subject matter in relation to the theme of indigenism, I will mention the sources of h is pictorial language.
Language aod Style: Husain's language was, in the beginning, entirely eclectic; often several modes existed side by side without a
transformation into what could be called his personal style. One is tempted to refer to European sources but one must be cautious : in the early years, access to European painting was merely through reproduotions and it was indiscriminate, depending on chance encounters and
suggestions of friends. Thus one can speak of influences on Husain from Europe only on a general level; the Cubists and the Expressionists but more probably both as treated by Picasso, who was the legendary hero of 'Modern art' were scanned everywhere with great curiosity, and particularly outside Paris. Tn the above circumstances, the assimilation
of European art was visual and not intellectual. Husain has never in fact been intellectual about influences but there is the difference that in later years, througb travelling abroad and though personal relationships with foreigners, he shared to an extent, Western modes of thinking and feeling. There was an existing stylistic language in modern Indian painting which was more influential in the early works of t he younger paintcrs, including Husain, than is generally admitted. The most positive aspects of this language flowed from Amrita Sher-Gil and George Keyt, both of whom were self-consciously synthesising tbe East and the West in artistic terms. This generally meant, Indian subject matter in European modes.
Husain was familiar
with the works of these two and their variations by other Indian painters.
After 1953 be began to travel abroad and a flood of sources became available to bim. A ~oeneral influence of ,\ Picasso is evident throughout. nys he became interested in the work of Bernard Buffet and Marino Marini, during his first visits to Europe. The visible effect of both is (fortunately) rather limited except in so far as Husain has always been inclined toward an acute graphic stylisatioD,
He
an attenuation of forms amounting to mannerism, which botb these Of tists glaringly display. It is more likely tbat one
can 'place' his image-language from 1955 to 1958, bis most mature period, by reference to an arti.t like Rufino Tamayo, (altbougb Husain is unlikely to bave seen his work tben) bimself influenced by Picasso. The interesting point is that if tbey bave affinities tbey occur because of shared intentions and circumstantial parallels, rather than any conscious
influence. If tw~ artists belonging outside tbe mainstream of the world art centres (e. g. Paris) bave developed along even slightly similar intentions, they tend to acquire, in relationship to
a shared source of influence (e.g. Picasso) greater affinities between tbemselves tban with that major source of influence. As their steps toward distortion and stylisation proceed from the same source, Ib_ir trajectory is similar. Compare Husain with Tamayo; tbeir work does not look alike, yet seen together they reflect a new light upon each other. Because of their immediate antecedents both wisbed to free themselves from an ideologically oriented 'indigenist'
painting, but the preoccul!lltion lingers in both and rhey tend to paint 'oative', archetypal (or otherwise typical) characters. The language and style are openly borroweJ from contemporary Western paintings; especially Picasso. However there is ao alteouation of the language; in
botb cases tbe colour is heightened to an exotic pitch, and the cpntour becomes manneristic.
This extreme stylisation
betrays that the content, often overtly indigenous, is not always sufficiently evolved to transform the borrowed language into a new and compelling idiom. In Husain's paintings after 1959, tbe loose rapid brush stroke of the Abstract Expressionists becomes rhore apparent. The solidity of forms which he had developed between 1956-58 is fragmented but be does not employ the new tecbnique to make an
emotional statement that
justifies it. (Consider in contrast De Kooning - the corrospondence between his intention and technique). Tbe scurry of brush marks suggests a simulated passion and finds tbeir rationalization in the banal repetition of galloping horses. Only occasionally, in the expression of 'a quick dramatic moment between his characters, does this
vocabulary speak for itself. In tbe structure and composition of images, Husain does not use an indigenous visual 'language' - tha t is one
belonging to the Indian tradition of fine arts, folk or popular arts, His colour, which is bold and clear, is the
Iqsest element in his vocabulary, to tbe tradition. But it is not useful to continue to regard bis language as eclectic and read it in reference to its Western sources: over the years he bas persona Used it so tbat it is best understood in terms of its own conventions, In his best works be has bent the language of his indigenous subjects to a remarkable extent and it becomes difficult and unnecessary to disengage them from tbeir unity. At no stage was Husain's "ork Daturalistic. He deliberately alienated bis cbaracters from the people in real life and typi fled them. Moreover, he 'staged' tbem in relationship to eacb otber at the pitch of 3 dramatic moment. Further, he stylised the individual aspects of the figure-the eyes, hands, toes, as well as elements of the language itself-the lin e in particular, arriving at a stylised realism which is
far more enligbtening in terms of tho chosen subject mattert tban naturalism . Subject matter :
The paintings that have survived date from 1947. Till tben his work was more or less natufalistic. From 1948 he began to assert bis own personality both in the choice of subject matter and language. The former became an extension of his own life; his involvement with his painted 'characters' was personal and immediate, for he
painted the life and activities of people....,mostly women
and children-in the crowded and poor section of his own environment. Expressionism at this stage was a natural and direct extension of himself even as tbe subject matter was. He often used tb e prostitut~s of Bombay as modelstheir raw, awkward bodies suggested an expressionist treatment. Besides, modern artists liberated from academicism and the demands of idealisation, have very ofteri fount! Expressionism tbe first step in gaining a passionate self-identity. Tn Husain's case, tbis expressionist mode was soon tempered by an increasing objectivity with regard to his subject matter, and further by an increasing stylisation of language, wbich put a distance between emotion and expression. Already the 'characters' of these paintings were seen as types and archetypes and this tendency increased during the following years. Also, they were seen in relationship to symbols and metaphors drawn from the Indian ( both Muslim and Hindu) tradition, Iit.rature and painting. Tbe use of symbols and metaphors-like the imprint o f the bird in a cage, tbe Cfl! SCent mOOD, the snake-were not always systematically , or even plIfposefully treated . Tbeyacted as suggestive images unfolding more or less random associations . In tbis compare Husain to Marc Chagall whose images, symbols and melapbors give visual form to the Jewish (Hasidic) myths and folk lore. Tbe picturisation is personal and eccentric, especially as in the absence of a visual art lradltion in Judaism, there are no
visual 'prototypes' to his images. Chagall's are in the realm of the fantastic -路 even more so than literary fables, becausp, painting provides lhe possibility of sllperposing and juxtaposing disparate images. And yet fantastic as they are, ChagaJl's images, particularly amongst the earlier paintings have a coherence , a considered symb oHsm and a much more carefully considered formal language tban Husain's . Chagall's most fantastical images take on an artistic credibility much greater than Husain's more restrained ones, because even a whim is treated by him with a much greater imaginative vigour. In the next two years, between 1953-55, the rural landscape and its people were 'de-hurnanised' by Husain, he extracted as it were, the content from bis subjects, both figurative and symbolic, and treated them as visual 'signs'. This bas been called his 'folk' period. but imprecisely. Folk images deal with traditional myths, which are so well known that they can be abbreviated, and the language is conventionalised. This produces a kind of bandwriting whose justification, as it's vitality, lies in the very process of . mass' production. As both these fac tors were absentand there was no attempt to compensate for their lossHusain's paintings ( also collages and wooden toys) of tbi s period have only a picturesque value. Tbis lapse into picturesqueness is not an unusual aspect of indigenism .
A large painting, 'Zameen' done in 1956 was a very interesling attempt to bring back an interpretive quality
to indigenous subject matter ( but without imposing a psychological dimension on the rural characters themselves, to which they are alien). Tbe interpretive meaning was suggested not so much by the 'adjectives', as by the very 'syntax' 路- the relationship of images in configuration. This is a device particularly appropariate when the meaning is allegorical TRther than literal. As sucb tbe device is often used in Rajput miniatures and folk narrative painting like that of the Patuas of Bengal. The picture
compound meaning of the images, frequently in Husain's paintings.
surrace is divided ioto compartments and each contains
but as dramatic characters. This was the time when Husain visited Europe often and made personal friends, in London,
separate images ( figurative or symbolic); tbe meaning is suggested if the viewer is able to 'read ' the picture imaginatively, by making insta nt connections between images. Moreover, the problem of the dimension of time (simultaneity and coutinuity) is solved by a non路iIIusionistic and strictly pictorial method as the means of configuration are available only to the painter. In 'Zameen' the picture surface was compartmentalised
and each flat space contained a single image (figure or symbol) wbich was usually abbreviated, referring to aspects of village Iife-a cart wheel, a work basket, a tree,
a cock, icon-type figures. There was a pictorial inventory of village life. But unfortunately, the images remained on the level of an iventory. The artist's attitude towards the theme was undeveloped in terms of the meaning be intended to convey. The viewer was unable to arrive at any
This lapse occurs
After 1955, there was a major change in Husain's subject maUer as well as language. The themes became for the first time 'universal' ; the figures bore no local identity.
nor the landscape. They were psychological 'types' in the same way as in a lot of 20th century figurative painting; they were related to each other not by natural contingency
Rome and Prague The tension between the Indian and tbe foreign stimuli created a phase of introspection. Till then he belonged unquestioningly to the Indian soil, now he felt he could sink roots in alien cultures and feed on them. This led to the desire for expressing a shared human desdny. Where Husain could overcome stylistic confusion, the paintings of this phase were very expressive, Husain returned to India after a very short absence-tbore can be no doubt as to where he 'belongs'. If having gained a reflective vision he could bave taken
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a more
committed role, the subsequent phase would have been the most significant. I do not mean a wle dictated by any social ideology, but which he could have arrived at through his sympatbies and his insight revealing tbe nature of tbe Indian experionce. In his best painting from this period, tbere is evidence that he touched the quality of this
experience more intimately than other Indian artists. There are several paintings of village women draped and huddled together at the close of day and there is in their stance and gesture, a kind of waiting tbat dissolves time - turns it into destiny, into the endurance of destiny tbat is so peculiarly Indian. He could equally well recall the drama of rituals and festivals, bringing out a rustic earnestness and bumour, and the staccato grace of tbe participants. A painting such as Be/ween the Spider alld the Lamp is the most remarkable painting of this phase. The next phase, beginning from about 1959 was unfortunately the beginning of a dispersal of his talent and energy.' He jumped from one series of themes to another: the Ragmala and the Nritya series, series on
religious themes, about bis travels both inside and outside India ( also two recurring subjects, his self-portraits, and galloping horses) more recently Ramayana and tbe Mahabharala, and the astronauts on the moon. All the
good and most of them competent but the characters have little content, or reality. Here indigenism qualitatively understood comes to an end; it shows its other more seductive face-tbe picturesque. Accompanying tbe dispersal of themes since 1959, there has appeared a looseness in the conventions tbat made up his
style. Where for example, the outstretched hand, flexed toes or tbe awkward gestures of the body were controlled, as of a wittily constructed and realistic marionette, they now tend to be mere mannerisms of a cardboard figure. Similarly, where the snak. or the moon were symbolically related to the subject, they appear now as space-fiilling devices. The elements of the language have suffered most; the tautness of the line and brush-strokes have become meaningless flourishes of his handwriting. And the colour, although wider in range and seemingly daring, far less subtle and unexpected.
themes were overtly' Indian '; in fact these paintings are a
compendium of all characteristic aspects of Indian life and culture. By this time however, and increasingly since Indian subjects were exploited to make paintings. Some of the paintings are During this phase he has also done several murals in various techniques including tile-mosaic; the subject matter and language remain almost exactly the same as in his paintings.
I seem to suggest unrelenting decline. There are individual paintings which have still the unexpected configuration, the 'quick' of bis imagination .
His venture into films, the first
of which, called 'Through the Eyes of a Painter' was sbot in tbat storehouse of magical images, Rajasthan, held a promise of recalling hi. charmed relationship to Indian life. But be bas not developed a new vision or a new idiom for his later films.
Husain's artistic weaknesses are related to the fact that he failed to discover a deeper relationship with his images, and beyond them, to the subjects, the people he painted. He bad genuine sympathy for them and apprehended their nature like no other Indian painter. But, he yielded, after a stage to picturising them. In this sense he did not fulfil the qualitative aspect or indigenism; and moreover limited himself as an artist because his relationship with his Indian subject matter was crucial to his temperament and vision. A reference to Satyajit Ray may be relevant : with Ray too the quality of artistic statement is dependent ( however much he refines his cinematic techniques and his aesthetics) upon the authenticity of the characters in their environment. And tbis in tUfn is dependent on his intimate participation in their lives at a psychological and social level - their dreams and travails, their style and their movement. This participation, incidentally, does not exclude Ray from cosmopolitan life nor from commercial success. It need not have done so for Husain.
Husain's failure to reach this essence has also reduced ultimately the significance of his role in modern Indian culture. [am not accusing Husain for not showing a radical commitment to the .ause of the Indian people. This would be a meaningless imposition, because there is nothing in his life or work which suggests he would be inclined towards a political or even social involvement. I have not even suggested that his paintings could have engaged in social criticisms. One can only ask of him what his own work promised; authentic understanding of the traditional - the' typical' - Indian, in the whim and ritual, the manner and gesture of his everyday life. Having recognised it with something of a brilliant intuition, having embodied in a series of lucid and memorable images, he let go of it, too soon and too easily. He did develop an idiom, original to an extent, but not powerful enough to give expression to the Indian identity which he sought to chractcrise throughout his imagery.
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VRISHCHI.K
( Quarterly)
April 1973
Vrishchik has completed three years of publication against all odds and enters into fourth ~ ilh this number. However, it is not possible to publish it as a l1"1 o nthl y, therefore we have decided to make it a quartclly by increasing number of pages 'Four issues will be puhlished in March, June, September and December every yea r.
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It may not be impertinent at th is stage to refl ect upon events that ha ve followed the Prot est of the Lalit Kala Akademi begun two years ago. It has come to a poiot where the government is expected to give its final verdict on the reeomm endations of the Khosla Commission's rep o rt. As the government's deci sion is overdue there is growing ferment, frusfralion and indifference amongst art circles. There are those who are not very optimistic, realising implications of the government's plan o f imposing a
na tional cultural policy-a tbreat to artistic freedom, vindicated in tbe reported attack by tbe new bead of lhe Institute of Advance studies on 'anli-social' elements in a seminar attended by the central Education Minister,
last year. As a result, tbese artists are lying low to safeguard their image being tarnished by labels of 'antisocial' and 'reactionary' elements. There are others who
were not wh\llly a part of the Protest Movement, or those who watched it from outside, whose cynicism has verged
on bitterness or indifference. Of late, some of them have begun to cooperate with the Akademi. The Akademi, we hear, is blissfully carrying o ut its functions
eyebrow was raised when thou sa nds of rupees were hurriedly spent before tbe end of the financial year to buy works of art from a pathetically poor show called Twenty five years of Indian Art. (Some think that this might also be an act of vengeance against those wbo refused to participate in it ). Rumours are that a Delbi artist benefitted most from tbis hurried waste of mo ney.
It is more than obvious that the situation calls for alarm. The goveroment as well as the artists and the intelligentsia must act soon to avert it, otherwise history will hold them
responsi ble for the cultural calamity Ihat follows. x
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Serious doubts are raised amongst 3rt circles about the
status of the National Gallery of Modern Art as a truely representative museum of the contemporary art of this country. Its collection, large as it may be, however fails to
impress tbe viewer of tbe quality of works displayed. Rather, a round of the Gallery makes it apparent tbat the majority of the works is mediocre, if not bad. Th. collection, it seems, has been made from available works througb the exhibitions and ar~ists in the metropolitan cities. This
obviously makes it lopsided, if not biased, and suggests tbe sbortsightedness of its purchase committee. It is expected of a gallery of this kind to show a spectrum of the best works by modern Indian artists from all over the country. And if this is not done, no amount of repeated white-washing of walls or slIck displays can improve its image:.
of holding meetings, appointing committees and spendin g its aonual graots. It appears tbat the comparatively
The new director of the Gallery has been praised for his dynamism and for the face-lift of the Gallery, however,
less noisy scenes in the General Council arc not due to
the standard and choice: of artists for relrospectives has become controversial, since he took office. (How a
reduced facli on-fights but because of a virtually unopposed fac tion rulin g it. Reportedly, this faction 's leadership
mediocre graphic artist deserved this hooour last year, took
( which includes an 'eminent' artist with dubi ous artistic
many by surprise, arousing a lot of speculation and
merits) represents the hard core of Akademi's vested interests which has successfully lured tbose artists and art critics into its fold who had expressed tbeir reluctance to join the
criticism). It may also be noted that among the few who showed or organised shows in the Gallery had serious
Pro :est Movement.
A recent instance would show how
Ihis faction has consolidated its position in the General as well as Executive Council of the Akademi. Not even an
difficulties with the administration. Besides, the tension between the entire working staff and the director is no less serious.
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Recently, a large Indian contingent of art, selected by a welknowo art critic was shown in Washington as a part
of the celebration of twenty five years of Indian independence. This rushed and hushed affair seems like a mixed bag as reviewed in Washington Post.
We reproduce part
of the report filed by M. V. Kamath in Times of India ( 3-4- '73) : ( ltalics ollrs ) . Washington, April 2 : The 'Washington Post' yesterda y blasted the contemporary Iudian painting exhibition at the Renwick Gallery and asked: 'Is this re.lly the best India has to offer l' Miss Patricia L. Raymer, the Post's art critic said: "The
Miss Raymer was perhaps not aware of the curious fact that most of the works for this. show were collected from artists residing in Delhi Of abroad, with many whose works show a definite leaning on Expressionistic idiom.
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Pablo Picasso died at the age of ninety one after a prolific career of seventy five years. This period in history has seen more changes in art than any other, and curiously, Picasso had the fortune to participa te io and witness ( and
can we also say, outlive? ) these c hanges.
One of the
dull and hackneyed paintings that are said to represent the
greatest changes of the century that sh o ok the world of art was the invention of the Cubist language, in which Picasso played a major rok. However, many facets of the dynamic
contemporary trends of the vast Indian nation'.
Cubist movement which rose vertically by triggering off a
Wondering whether this was really a 'representative show,'
series of similar and contrary changes in the language of art, are yet to be fully assessed, Picasso's genius expressed itself
show contains no really superb works but a lot of stail,
Miss Raymer said that 'the works smack of establishment approl'al.' Were only safe, acceptable artists selected? The critic asked.
She went on : The works are too much alike, The show includes a lot of abstract oils and acrylics-the type one sees daily hanging in anti-septic offices and passes by without a glance, If the show is representative, then Indian artists appear to be doing little in tbe way of experimentation and innovation.'
The critic also wanted to know why no work of artist belolV the age of 40 is included in the sholV and why despite the fact that the exhibits are by no means the works of floundering amateurs, the sbow itself is ' so bland,
in the virtual changelessness of bis art-after the Cubist phase. Thus, despite being instrumental in its creation he
kept out of the polemics路-promises and pitfalls-of vertical growth, To somc it appeared backlagging and even symptomatic of uncreativeness ( particularly in his last thirty years l, to others it appeared like a powerful conviction, unaffected by the dramatic ups and downs of dozens of isms. The personal idiom of his art is difficult to classify in its entirety : an eclecticism; a sum total of the Cubist asp~ct-路 ism ( to see the reality with both or more eyes, independelllly and simultal1eously), an Expressioni s t sponteneity, the quick and the piercing vision, an amazing command over
medium a nd unceasing energy.
All this was expressly
She said: ' where there is colour, there is neither brilliance
visual, to wbich no amount of verbalising or poeticising
nor subtlety. Where there is texture there is neither coarseness nor delicacy. Not th.t art should aim at
would do justice, It is easy to denegrade Picasso ( uot only as philistines do) as it is easy to revere him, He had tbe fortune ( or misfortune) to be perhaps the most famous
extremes but it should have substance, an essence, a per路 sonality these works do DOt. '
Wbether one agrees witb all the views expressed by Miss Raymer or not, her criticism nevertheless points out to a
need to re-evaluate what we take it for granted at home, It also questions tbe legitimacy of a selection whicb presents such an image of Indian art, not to mention doubts about its relevance in tbe international context.
and the richest artist ever lived, the fact which
unmercifully
reduced his personality into an abstract symbol-like the point of a target or an undiminished ray of light -remote from bis admirers and critics, a lone individual seeking shelter in his art. His death has perhaps relieved)im of this agony and left us alone with his art. Why are we sad and speechless by bis departure?
His Statue Speaks
He says: To S0me I say I inherited it from my grandfather, to others I picked it up at a junk shop, to some r stole it from an ancient temple, to others T bought it off a burglar, to some I dug it out from under some debris - hence its awful condition-to others I acquired it at an auction-cheap- to some I borrowed it from a museum that refuses to take it back becau se of the damage I've done to it, to others it is a gift from my deceased doxy who in turn had it from her sc ulpt or father.
He says: J say whatever T suppose my li stener wants to hear. He says: To some [ retort I do not know what bloody statue you're talking about; where is it; [don't see any s tatue anywhere here; you call that a statue; corne now; no one but 3n idiot would call that a statue; that is nothing but dust; Dust; DO YOU HEAR ME! H e says: My outbursts often succeed in co nvin ci ng m y qu estioners of my incurabl e in3anity and I raise m y mall e t aloft and laugh like a loony at this success. He says: I say whatever I suppose my lislener wants to hear. He says : Ev ~ ryone who comes to see me is convinced he alone has had it from the horse's mouth.
by
Krishna Bald(')1 Vaid
He says: Admirers make me sick. He says: Some simplerons are taken in by this barefaced lie and defend me against my detractors arguing that if I had really been after popularity I'd have gone about it differently. r wouldn't have antagonized everybody by my bull about the statue. He says : The truth is I love to be fawned upon by fools so th a t I am left with no time to face that statue. He says: Thae are some who insist that many years ago under Some secret pressure or necessity r started working on this sta tu e without a mo del, that r have been hacking away at it ever since, that r want to make it my masterp iece. He says: I am not pleased by this op inion any moee than am by any other. He says: There are others who believe r had a he rd of heavenly models in the heginning hut I have alie nated them all. He say~ : There are some who never stop telling m D that all my other statues are the offspring of this statue.
He says: This doesn't bother me even though everyone thinks it does.
H e says: When I Inform my tormentors that this statue is modelled on someone's phantom they give me a strange look and simper my stupid statement.
He says: Some people suspect [spread silly stories about myself in order to attract admirers for my s tatue.
H e says: Of late all my statements have been stupid and / J am as annoyed by them as my dull and devoted admirers.
at
He says: I try to be absolutely expressionless while speaking or listening to any nonsense about this statue.
some suggest the bulk of that flesh and blood belonged to my family.
He says: That's why [ always wear these black sunglasses
He says: Some people believe I will impart the secret of this s'tatue to an old friend or mistress before I die, others assert tbat the secret will be cremated along with me, while some suggest the secret will be disinterred from my documentary remains long after I am dead.
or this eye mask. He says: This may have started the rumor that r use these glasses or this eyemask to shut the outer world out. He says:
r use them
to shut myself out.
He says: Some people tell me it is a man, others it is a woman, some it is an old man, others it is an old woman, some it is a young man, others it is a young woman, some it is a middle-aged man, others it is a middle-aged woman, some it is an impotent clown, others it is a laughing hermaphrodite. He says: Some people tell me it is a heartless beast while others say it is a compassionate demon.
He says: r laugh at all these conjectures so derisively that some day someone will give me a good beating. He says: r have uttered and heard so many lies about this statue that I do not know which one of them is more beautiful than the others. He says: I do not know what the truth is, whetber it is, whether the statue is, whether ram. He says: [ do not know what all this amounts to or i,
He says: Some say it is legless, others it is sexless, some say all it has is a lingam, others would like it to wear an underwear.
due to.
He says: Some asses insist it is my wife. He says: There's a rumor that T get up every morning to tinker with it and that's why it keeps changing from day to day.
And alter this he fades away and I begin to wonder who knows wbether any of what he has told me today is true or false. And then his statue speaks in a harsh voice: How does it matter! And [ am convinced it matters little.
He says: Some think it is stone, otbers bronze, some swear they saw me mixing my flesh and blood in its matter,
( Translated by the Author from the Hindi)
Poems
Old man . If [ see you with fear, It becomes loathing. Life hasn't carved you deep. I reach bottom An inch behind your eyes; And I become gentleKnowing how much older than you [ have been.
Mars/w Chapman
It'll Never Be the Same
Mama, Mama, I'm leaving home. None of us wished me well.
None of us ever admitted it then . And no one ever told me I couldn't come home again.
All those leavings. All those leavings a nd no good by. beneath polished pretenses of looking only in the next direction. So looking for roots That had no dark earth in me to hold them.
City Winter But last night [ drea mt it was 10 years ago. Here amidst the packing boxes Even the tow truck was caught, axle-deep; and the street now is carnaged snow
as though some awful battle had gone by. A chilly vengeance of wheels spinning and thin electricity torn by ice on wires. Still, all lhis chaos falls quietly. Flake upon flake. The sky fully intruded. Diminished figures pick their way carefully among the snowbanks, the brittle sidewalks, lhe cliffs of slush.
of the millionth movetwo blocks away, and continents and light years from home- I dreamt you baked me a banana cake to say good by. And finally I cried .
Poems
Roots
Mala Marwah
It's the Usual III Wind
And warm-lime's almost here.
Yes of course my hair is dishevelled
I suppose there'll be berries To trample underfoot,
Only natural, this, After a wind that blows so dreadfully askew That even the birds fly sideways.
New leaves and nests and birds to watch out for. And even, even, through the street-deaf
A hopeful cracking of roots There is always in this fastness That certain cracking of roots
And when tbe weather hushes I do too All this Because T am Of the rivers (always moving) And of the dust so you see When I say I am myself r am really mistaken, for the truth lies (as always) in the all-around:
Afternoon
Weather-shoots cull my moods.
With warm patter-dim (this quiet afternoon) Crickets chirping after rain Through just-born
And mind-wood creaks with cracking of roots.
Apricot leaves
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Statement about ownership and other particulars about Vrishchik
Form 8 ( See rule 8 ) B/2 ShiraH Apartments, Fatehgunj, Baroda - 2. Periodicity of publication: Quarterly. A. N. Joglekar Printer's Name Yes. Whether citizen of India 3-A Associates, Address 8-A Laxmi Estate, Bahucharaji Road, Baroda Gulam Sheikh Publisher's Name Whether citizen of India Yes Publisher's Address B/2 Shirali Apartments, Fatehguni, Baroda - 2 Gulam Sheikh Editors' Names Bhupen Kbakhar Whether citizens of India: Yes B/2 Shirali Aparatments, Address Fatehguni, Baroda Place of publication
â&#x20AC;˘
I, Gulam Sheikh, hereby declare that the particulars given above are ture to the best of my knowledge and belief.
March,1973.
Sdl Gullm Sheikh Publisher
Published by Gulam Sheikh from 8/2 Shirali Apartments. Fatehgunj, Baroda-2, and printed by A. N. Joglekar I-A, lax.mi Estate Bahucllaraji Road. Baroda.
3 - A - Associates,
R. N. 15189/69
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