Every once in a while I get up with a start and feel the need to reclaim my life from work. The need to rejuvenate my mind with a different kind of knowledge. See something new. Do something different. Break out of the routine mold.
So this Sunday was my activity day when I planned with a friend to goto the Bengaluru National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). I had heard much about it but somehow had never quite managed to make it there. They are currently playing a slew of art related movies and we decided to go watch 'Huangshan World of Immortals' directed by Fumihiro Kuroyanagi which was to be about Mt. Huangshan, the acclaimed to be "loveliest mountain of China" inspiring several generations of artists. Also I was hoping to walk through the galleries and gaze into the eyes of the painted immortals.
Well when one plans excessively, things are bound to go wrong. I got completely lost, paid the auto fellow a hefty sum and then walked around looking for NGMA for an hour in the streets of Blore. It was in itself a strangely entertaining walk for it was in a part of the city i am unfamiliar with and had much to absorb in. The streets were full of little footpath vendors next to this mandir (temple) selling hundred of miniature gods and things one offers to the gods. Apparently they favour reds and yellows, fruits, flowers and lots of reverence :) I love this country because one learns something all the time! In India, so much goes by faith. This is one of those things i have anyhoo been planning to write about.. so before I get further derailed..back to NGMA! So of course i arrived much not in time for the movie and so ended up sipping a nice lime juice in their cafeteria and walking around the galleries. Yet before I go into describing the art, the venue deserves some attention. The NGMA is located at the Manikyavelu Mansion which is a grand old imposing white building with lovely green grounds and large sky reaching trees. It is tempered with the sound of the tinkling fountain and eclectically dressed in randomly yet aesthetically placed (it is a finely perfected art that!) Indian modern sculpture and art.
Well now the art :) So you enter the temperature controlled galleries and you begin with the section on miniatures with beautiful little details, followed by a section on company artists. A bunch of artists - English and Indian, touring the country, making a living out of painting maharajas and East India Company officers during colonial times. I thought it fascinating! How strange that it never occurred to me before! Who were these people who painted the painted ones! This was followed by the whole Bengal School of Art which took place post the creation of Shatiniketan in West Bengal by Rabindranath Tagore led by his nephew Abanindranath Tagore in the effort to shake the Western Art legacy and style and develop a pan-asian method. He learnt the tempera and wash techniques from the Japanese, leading to several of the paintings containing people looking markedly oriental in features while clothed in everything Indian. Some of the wash sceneries were exceptional. His student Nandlal Bose, who was featured further, was also quite astonishing in the number of styles along with surfaces and paints he effortlessly transitioned through. All the famous artists stuck out as being exceptional and deserving - Amrita Shergil, Jamini Roy and later in the more recent modern section - Satish Gujral and of course one of my absolute favorites - Husain, some of his paintings from the Mother Teresa series were displayed.
At the end was a featured gallery covering Bengaluru artist of yore - Channabasavaiah Rumale (1910-87). He was apparently first a committed freedom fighter, editor and only at the age of 53, turned painter. His painting style is clearly greatly influenced by Van Gogh. His favorite muse seemed to be the city and apparently during those times it was no uncommon to find him sitting on odd corners, painting away. Favorite city subjects- trees. Swirling and whirling with wild colours- the purples, pinks, yellows - caught suddenly in paint. It is a very different city from the one we know now - where the same trees are dying in the wake of increasing concrete and pollution, not to mention way too many supposed development projects of widening roads. I wished almost to live in those times...walking into the paintings like Alice walked into a mirror. I loved it all!
Post this lovely visit, we went and stuffed ourselves silly at this adorable little eating place called 'Under the mango tree' where we ended a fabulous day on a gorgeous slightly crumbly blueberry cheese cake :) Must do more such days in life!
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