.Expressivecanvas

Capturing the'. essenceof Indian

.~:; spiritualism, Sarla's~t painting revolves'.' around myth and

scripture; whileanother exhibitionin the Capitalshowcases art downthe centuries

SARLA Chandra, a sciencepost-graduate from St John's College,Agra, has been painting for the bestpart of forty years A dedicated motherof two married daughters, animpeccable housewife and exemplaryhostess, Sarla still finds time tointernalise and paint extensively, quiteas a meditation. With endless energyshe has tried her hand at working onmetal relief, depicting the Ramayana,us<:doil, acrylic, foil, paper and canvassto expres.~ her inner workings.

Somewhere in her works she

manages to capture the essence ofIndian spiritualism, the softly iridescentmetal foils she tends to use as highlight,effectively translating the essence ofHindu existence, of living life to attainAnanda, the glow of enlightenment atthe end of the tunneL

Sarla has drawn and painted, variedher scaling as per her needs, revolvinground Indian myth and scripture,mterpreting and re-interpreting them asshe passes through different phases inher life, styling them on her ownexperiences of travel and time.

Indian in content, her style is herown, traditional fineness in the smallerworks, more western 'contemporary' asthe scale grows. Always in eamest,always striving to enrich her idiom, the"rtist im presses by her consistency anddedication, guarding her inner spaces tonurture the mystic murmurings of her

mind. Her solo show "Golden Thread"

opens at the PBC Gallery, PaharpurBusiness Centre, 21 Nehru Place Greenson the 24th of this month.

***

The National Gallery of Modem Artin collaboration with the Victoria andAlbert Museum, London, presentsIndian Life and Landscape by WesternArtists, an exhibition of more than

ninety paintings and drawings from theV&A 1790 -1927, at National Galleryof Modem Art, Jaipur House, NewDelhi from 27 October to 6 December.

The exhibition is a collection fromLondon's Victoria and Albert Museum

which shows rare and intC?restingwatercolours, sketches, aquatints,lithographs and engravings byEuropean artists who visited India

between 18h to 20th century.According to Prof Rajeev Lochan,

Director, NGMA: ''The first visualrepresentations of India by westernartists were of imaginary landscapesand settings. They were based on the

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written accounts of travellers to India

from across Europe. It was only afterprofessional European artists began totravel to India that they painted, for thefirst time, scenes based on directobservation. Their passionate interest inthis new and exciting land led to thecreation of a comprehensive pictorialrecord of India, in a visual stylefamiliar to western audiences."

The exhibition is divided into four

sections showcasing the works ofvarious schools of art beginning with atour of India through dramatic picturesof splendid forts, temples, and palaces.The second section showcases works byamateur artists who were captivated bythe landscape a,'id arch;tecturc of ImVa.Many of these amateurs wereemployees of the East India Company,who painted their personal experiences.The third section is dedicated to

romanticised versions of India depictingstriking, decorative paintings entirelyfrom the imagination. Perhaps the moststriking of such paintings on display areWilliam Carpenter's glowing renditionof the marble "Interior of the

Neminath Temple", Dilwara, Mount .Abu. Ancient Observatory by WilliamSimpson, A Hindoo Female of theKonkan by Robert Melville Grindlayand A leopard attacking an antelope bySamuel Howitt are other examples ofthe romantic school of practice.

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The fourth section, based on realism,documents the social life and peopleengaged in various professions duringthat time.

The charm of the exhibition lies not

just in being an invaluable sociologicaldocument, but more perhaps as theglimpse it allows into an India that was,centuries ago, its heat and dl!5t, riversand t~, habit and attire, its vastlandscape, and the humble naivete ofits people in the face of such enormity.

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