Page 294 - Eye of the beholder

The works are executed in the medium of pastels and gouache on paper. Ghilardi had mastered the technique of pastels, gouache and water colours, and it was his engagement with pastels that allowed him to mark a posture of difference in relation to many other European artists. Undeniably a skilled artist with fecund imagination, Ghilardi was able to bring to his works those saliencies of the pastels that give his works a soft sentimental and a romantic ambience. Certain mediums establish their character depending on its manipulation by the artist. Pastel had been popular in Europe from 18th century, but very few artists in their artistic praxis used it exclusively as a medium to communicate their expressions. By the mid-19th century, French artists such as Eugene Delacroix and especially Jean Francois Millet were making significant use of pastel. Edouard Manet painted a number of portraits in pastel on canvas, an unconventional ground for the medium. Edgar Degas was an innovator in pastel technique, and used it with an almost expressionist vigor after about 1885, when it became his primary medium due to his failing eye sight. It is a well established fact that pastels as a medium does not lend itself freely and is neither a versatile medium as oils. Artists from 18th century have commonly used pastels or charcoal for their initial preparatory drawings, but none found a favour with this medium to be used exclusively as means of communicating their expressions.
According to Anirban, “Though both the paintings are Indian landscapes, the nature and quality of illumination used in the two paintings are diametrically opposite. The painting showing the unloading of wares from the boat on the riverside shows swathes of open space and a clear sky illuminated by bright daylight. The other painting however, shows a scene in the evening with dim light filtering through a complex topography of dense vegetation creating an interspersed gradient of illumination. The expression of the enthusiastic bright mood of the first painting and the somber dense mood of the second one are both due to the skilful treatment of the light in each case; and the artist has clearly succeeded in this effort with the use of a difficult medium like pastels. The busy activity of the figures unloading the wares in the first painting, and the sobriety and tranquility of the two figures walking through the woods in the second painting also display the artist’s skill in the treatment of anthropomorphic forms. On closer examination, other details like the rendition of the leaves on the trees and the ripples of water also testify for the skills of the artist. Looking at the painting in the context of the biographical information available, in all probability it seems that the paintings were done in India between 1885 and 1905, and acquired by the family of the previous owner, who obviously loved the paintings enough to get them properly framed by a well known restorer in London”.
In his compositional layout, Ghilardi in these two paintings has delineated the light, which is dynamically at opposite poles. The quality of softness of light in both the paintings is remarkable. While one is dedicated to a bright mid afternoon light, the other is somber and almost tenebristic in its rendering. It makes for a definitive play of contrast that is very interesting. Both the paintings demonstrate Ghilardi mastery and absolute control of the medium of pastel, with easy facility in which he has created the mood and light effects.
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