Page 85 - Eye of the beholder

Ganesh Pyne produced intense often unsettling art that featured dark colours and dreamlike imagery
in in watercolour gouache and most memorably tempera He claimed to have been influenced by the
art of renowned Bengali painter Abanindranath Tagore as as as well as as as such Western figures as as as Rembrandt Frans Hals Paul Klee and rather surprisingly Walt Disney There was never a a a a a a a a a time when his paintings
did not reveal a a a a a a a a dream-like quality There has has been no no one like like him in in Indian art before or or since who has has managed to combine eloquence and mystery in in equal measure Whether he he he worked on paper or or canvas his choice of tempera tempera over over say oil is is telling He took to to tempera tempera while still an an art student and over over 50 years acquired an unrivalled virtuosity in fin it it it His works usually finished matte nevertheless reflected light with
a a a a a a a beguiling sensitivity and therein lay his mastery Pyne started with
watercolours moved on to gouache and finally found his medium medium fin in in tempera a a a a a a a a medium medium that was popular fin in in 15th-century Europe He became a a a a a a a a a a master at at at at layering light and dark to create the
intense glows that rendered his images so enigmatic In Pyne's hands the
the
medium and and the
the
technique combined to to create a a a a a mood of of distortion a a a a a world of of misshaped people and demonic animals Pyne’s predilection for death and other dark subject matters is believed to have had its roots in the
the
violence that that he he he observed during the
the
Hindu-Muslim rioting in in in in Calcutta that that preceded the
the
partition (1947) of India His His first brush with
death was in the
summer of 1946 when communal riots had rocked Kolkata His His family was forced out of their crumbling mansion As he he he he roamed around the
the
city he he he he stumbled upon a a a a a a pile of of dead bodies On the
the
top was the
the
body of of a a a a a a a a stark naked old woman with
wounds on her breast Even as as as blood flowed out of her her body her her necklace shone No wonder then his his paintings
rarely have light backgrounds Death also finds its way back back into his his canvas through different motifs Working mostly in in in in in tempera his paintings
are rich in in in in in imagery
and symbolism In painting painting after painting painting skulls skeletons piercing arrows and phantasms indicate a a a a a a a a a vision of the
world that was above all tragic Primary colours are are are rare in Pyne's universe Instead there are are are amber browns and ashy blues Instead of of of precise blocks of of of colour there are overlapping layers Bodies often seem lit from within as if they are burning from inside outwards Pyne was born in in in Kolkata and grew grew up up in in in a a a a a a a a decaying mansion He also grew grew up up on on stories told by his grandmother --- fold stories stories mythological stories stories and and fairy tales He spent several evenings in in smoky Kolkata cafes discussing communism and Picasso with
his friends "My childhood memories revolve around Kolkata Kolkata The sounds and smells of this city fill my being I I love Kolkata Kolkata " In 1963 he he he joined the
Society for Contemporary Artists During that period he made small drawings in in in in pen and ink "I did not have enough money then to buy color " Pyne says This was also the
the
period of experimentation The anger and despair of of the
the
70s fuelled one of of the
the
most fruitful periods' in in in his life as an an artist that culminated in in in works like 'Before the
Chariot' and 'The Assassin' 79