On His 110th Birth Anniversary, A Kaleidoscopic View At The Early Modern Painter Sailoz Mookherjea

Sailoz Mookherjea was 26 years young when the art world took notice of one of his earliest paintings in 1933. Village Puja, as the monograph was titled, bore a Western neoclassical touch, scholars note, but then the Bengal-born painter moved to Delhi a decade later and travelled to Europe to come back to his country with a style that had vastly changed from his budding days.

Today, on his 110th birth anniversary, the national capital is holding a landmark exhibition on Sailoz, widely regarded as one of India바카라�s pioneering modernists who works bore his impressions as a lover of the nature around and its people. Dhoomimal Art Gallery in Connaught Place is hosting the November 1-30 show, coinciding with the 30th death anniversary of Mahendra Jain, its former owner. On display are works from the collection of Ram Babu, who founded Dhoomimal in 1936 when the country had no contemporary-art galleries.

Dhoomimal바카라�s Mohit Jain, who has is Babu바카라�s grandson and curated the ongoing event, regrets that Sailoz (1907-60) is seldom remembered in the 21st century even as the artist바카라�s name figures among the nine modern Indians whose works have been declared as a national treasure. 바카라�His paintings attract people from all walks of life, from a layman to connoisseur,바카라� Jain adds.

Back to Village Puja (from the collection of the Maharaja of Patiala), it bears testimony to Sailoz바카라�s mastery in handling oil medium, points out late critic A.S. Raman, a native of a village in Cudappah of Andhra Pradesh. 바카라�Therein lies the secret of his lucidity and luminosity,바카라� adds the writer, who had served as a dean in the Faculty of Art at Thanjavur바카라�s Tamil University.

Scholar Partha Chatterjee finds Village Puja painted 바카라�with a lot of feeling and perception바카라�. Yet, in 1937 when he returned from Paris where he had met iconic Henri Matisse known for his reputation alongside revolutionary cubist Pablo Picasso, Sailoz had to his credit 바카라�at least two memorable paintings바카라�, he says. One was Portrait Of A Dutch Girl that banks on post-impressionist technique which was 바카라�enough to transcend mere virtuosity to become a haunting memory image바카라�. The other was A Lane In Italy that is, by contrast, 바카라�bland on first viewing, but on a closer inspection can possibly yield several painterly, therefore aesthetic secrets바카라�.

Chatterjee recalls that Sailoz came to Delhi when the city was artistically virgin, having been economically and politically been ravaged by the British. This, when Sailoz had already gained a name in Calcutta that hosted his first solo exhibition in 1937. That was five years after the youth from Burdwan had joined the School of Art in that eastern Indian metropolis, where he went on to work as the art director with Imperial Tobacco Company.

The style that Sailoz evolved바카라�primarily groomed in the Bengal school of art led primarily by Swadeshi exponent Abanindaranath Tagore (1861-1941)바카라�is a natural reflection of the artist바카라�s personality, notes artist-critic Jaya Appasamy (1918-84). Describing his as an active man full of curiosity and a keen sense of observation, she notes the artist had a large circle of friends in whom he found a lot of joy. 바카라�He was extremely well-informed, and was a remarkable conversationalist and guest whom it was a delight to entertain,바카라� points out the Madras-born writer. 

Perhaps there was another side to Sailoz, going by Chatterjee바카라�s account. 바카라�He was sociable enough, but lonely. He lived in modest, sometimes frugal, lodgings. His eating habits were erratic and alcohol became a constant companion to offset his loneliness.바카라� In Delhi Polytechnic, Sailoz didn바카라�t find his colleagues in the art department 바카라�stimulating or sophisticated enough바카라�, Chatterjee adds, also noting that this urbanity was 바카라�not acquired on his European sojourn; it was always there바카라� even as he was 바카라�hugely popular with the diplomats of various countries stationed in Delhi.바카라�

The artist later worked as a lecturer at the Sarada Ukil School of Art on Janpath, again in the heart of Delhi, where the pay was meagre and 바카라�he could not have stayed for long바카라�. Not surprising, thus, that Sailoz was a 바카라�painter of moods and essence of fleeting experience바카라�. Nonagenarian Ram Kumar recalls about the fellow artist바카라�s drawing as 바카라�excellent바카라�, with the canvas 바카라�charged, full of energy바카라�.

Chimes in Sailoz바카라�s student Eric Bowen: 바카라�Ironically, it was poverty that chased him throughout his life in Delhi. He was not a darling of the corporate world.바카라� In fact, Bowen, known for setting in 1958 바카라�The Unknown바카라� collective to encourage emerging artists, winds back to point out that Sailoz was 바카라�orphaned, probably at birth, or soon after바카라� though he was born in a affluent family. Curator Jain says he does not see a superficial form of Bohemianism in Sailoz바카라�s works, 바카라�but an attitude adopted to preserve one바카라�s own exceptional artistic language, marked by their deep connection with India.바카라� Looked in another way, 바카라�Sailoz바카라�s life, like his painting, was both spontaneous and romantic, often with more than a tinge of sadness,바카라� says Chatterjee.  

Critic-author Richard L. Bartholomew (1926-85) says Sailoz바카라�s landscapes are not picnickers바카라� delight. 바카라�The few Rajasthan women바카라�faceless, but not formless, and clad in just that rhythm of India that conceals and reveals바카라�sit brooding beside a well, congregating in quiet.바카라� To Bartholomew, this idiom was founded on the artist바카라�s thorough study of folk art in India. 바카라�It is apparent that he chartered for himself certain schools of Pahari painting바카라�Kangra and Rajput, particularly,바카라� he says, adding Sailoz owed considerable influence to the later paintings of short-lived Hungarian-Indian Amrita Shergill known for her avant-garde streak.

Journalist-writer Rakshat Puri, who died in 2012 at age 88, says Sailoz바카라�s works have 바카라�defied passage of time and change of environment to remain relevant to our condition today.바카라� India Post released a 1978 stamp carrying the artist바카라�s famed work titled The Mosque.

Overall, Sailoz, 바카라�like Gopal Ghosh (1913-80), swam against the tide of even in their time바카라� by choosing to 바카라�celebrate the beauty of the landscape that was before them or that which they recalled from their childhood and youth,바카라� according to Chatterjee. Yet, Bowen recalls about a younger Sailoz thus: 바카라�He bought out an old bundle of photographs and happily showed his pictures with Lady Mountbatten (Edwina, wife of the last viceroy of India) etc. Perhaps that was his only personal possession those days.바카라�