 "Art from the heart")
NAÏVE ART: ODE TO THE UNKNOWN ARTIST
Author: Parthasarathi Shome
Publisher: A K Chandra Trust, Kolkata, and Matrix Publishers
Partho Shome is a well-known tax expert, yet his recent coffee table book, Naïve Art is far away from tax matters. This is not surprising since he has always been knowledgeable and interested in such art and has an impressive collection. Dedicating it to his mother on her 90th birthday, herself a naïve artist of great charm and skill, Shome has gone deeply into the subject and the volume has many colourful illustrations. Some are of very high quality and originate from all the five continents. He was an avid traveller as a senior International Monetary Fund official and professor at American University. Apart from his official meetings, he took time out to study the subject avidly.
Naïve art is self-taught and self-expressed, independent in thought and expression. It is different from folk art, which emanates from peasant traditions reflecting inherited motifs and styles. Primitive art is yet another form of the community at large rather than of individuals and is associated with non-European tribal communities. It includes the bark paintings of the Haida people of British Columbia, wooden figures of Dogon people of Mali, paintings of Madhya Pradesh tribes comparable to those of Australian Aborigines, or Afghan and Baluchi carpets.
Naïve artists are creative individuals untutored in the eye or hand, not rule-bound, and ignoring traditional academic interpretation. Human figures are not modelled, often appearing wooden with little spatial perspective. Some naïve art is impressive because it is painted from imagination, often in dashing yet clashing colours.
Dipti Guha, Shome's mother played with colours since her childhood, and took it up after a 45-year gap because of household responsibilities. The book contains many examples of her painting, sometimes influenced by Victorian painters in her early years or by images of Ganesh and Durga. Her paintings reveal great dexterity and skill.
Shome's Latin American collection deserves particular mention. It depicts Magic Realism, masses of trees, birds and giant eggs in one, train hooting out into space from a mountain in another, adoration of the eclipse, or arrival of the Spanish in palanquins, or a clandestine house of ill repute. They depict the ethos of the people and their beliefs including visions of the divine, in combination offering a surreal perspective in vivid colours.
There are two oil paintings on glass by Serbian artist Mebgzaod Kalja that are rare and noticeable, and very different in their respective compositions. India is not ignored for he includes Dhokra sculptures, painted wood sculptures from Bengal and Jamini Roy reproductions, though tribal paintings from Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh are absent. Impressive are four icons of Bengal deities in watercolour and oil with gold leaf that his mother inherited from her family.
This beautiful volume is a monumental effort on Shome's part, busy as he was with his responsibilities as minister of state. It goes to show that if one has a serious hobby, one finds time to cultivate it. He has not only collected, often from the artist himself, but has written about each painting's history. The task of collecting, keeping it organised and researching into their background require discipline, hard work and tenacity. Such a collection is rare in India.
ssethi@matrixpublishers.org
