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HERITAGE: GRAPHIC EXPRESSIONS
Tracing History
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RENAISSANCE
TO RECREATION: (from above) Shahjahan Inspecting a Construction
(1938); Blue Woman (1981); Boy and Fish Bowl (1999); and Self Portrait
Against Red (2000) |
It was during Sen's
years in Indore that Bhavesh Sanyal organised the first one-man show for
him in Lahore in December 1941. His next three exhibitions were held in
Delhi's YMCA Hall during the years of the World War II. Among the large
number of British and American troops stationed in India at that time
were several young enthusiasts of modern painting and poetry. They, along
with some Jewish emigres from Europe, encouraged young Indian artists
like Sen, Francis Newton Souza and Husain to adopt the modernist idiom
by showing them reproductions of western masters in art magazines. That
was the first time Sen and his friends saw colour reproductions of western
art.
Then in 1949 at a display in a travel bureau
in Mumbai Sen saw an advertisement for a one-way passage to Liverpool
for £35. "I did not have the money but I sold five sketches
at Rs 300 each to the editor of The Illustrated Weekly, who always carried
paintings on the cover, to raise the fare," reminisces Sen. From
Liverpool to London and then to Paris-Sen had reached the Mecca of his
desires. Paris was not quite the "Moveable Feast" as Ernest
Hemingway called it in the pre-War years. "There was a lot of poverty
and hardship but people were kind, friendly and generous," he says.
In Paris, Sen studied at Ferdinand Leger's atelier and the Ecole Des Beaux
Arts but more importantly learnt from seeing the works of great western
masters and by meeting them.
The story of his meeting with Picasso is legendary.
"Picasso's secretary was very protective of the maestro's time; I
had to show him my works and he grudgingly told me that the maestro would
see me for 15 minutes after which I would have to leave." Picasso,
on the other hand, ever the Latin, was warm and expansive. When the allotted
time was up, Sen started gathering his works to leave. But Picasso asked,
"Are you in a hurry? I am not and since I have seen your paintings
you must see mine too." And with that he started showing Sen all
the works in his large studio, "It was easily one of the greatest
times of my life," recalls Sen, "and the 15-minute meeting lasted
for over four hours!"
An engaging raconteur, Sen has in the past few
years penned four books in Bengali, including the delightful collection
of anecdotes titled Abusimbel, Picasso and Other Stories. Two of his books
have been rated among the 100 best books in Bengali since Independence.
Sen's brush celebrates the foibles of the human
condition and to a lesser extent the overwhelming bounty of nature. There
is always a hint of impish humour in his works that raises it over the
act of mundane reportage. His mastery over the line is offset by his revelry
of the cubist distortion. To these he adds an unabashed celebration of
colour quite reminiscent of German expressionists like Emil Nolde and
Oscar Kokoschka. The result is not a pretentious adoption of dated European
styles but a deep assimilation of the modernist vision recreated with
an Indian soul and in an Indian ambience. "Expressionism got a new
lease of life in India after it had run its course in Europe by the end
of the War," says Sen modestly.
It is said the meek shall inherit the earth.
In Sen's case he will settle for a piece of the sky.
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