Bawa biography explores the world of colours

For a painter who is known for his use of brilliant colours, 'In Black & White' is a rather surprising name for Manjit Bawa's authorised biography.

Probably, the painter intended the expression idiomatically, as an pointer to the honesty and candour that went into this depiction of his personal and professional life and the many influences that shaped his art.

Much of this honesty and candour comes from the fact that its writer, Ina Puri, is a close friend of the artist.

As Buddhadeb Dasgupta, who has also made a documentary, 'Meeting Manjit' on the painter said, said at the launch the relationship between the two was not merely cerebral, it was also intensely divine.

In fact, Puri was present when Bawa suffered a stroke in December last year.

For the last five months, the painter has been in coma in a Delhi hospital.

Bawa, the sufi saint, the gourmand who loved to cook for friends who stayed with him in his Dalhousie pad, the gambler who didn't recognise Louis Armstrong, the jazz musician at a gambling den in London, the little boy who sat on his father's knee and listened to stories and the dreamt of running away to Kumartuli, comes across in Puri's sensitive prose.

As Bawa has said in his foreword, the book "has the right mix of colours".

'In Back & White' has been published by Viking and is moderately priced at Rs 425.

The publishers also intend to come up with a coffee-table retrospective of Bawa's works in November this year, said Hemali Sondhi, head, marketing and promotions, Penguin India.

This will have 130 paintings and sketches by Bawa starting with his work when he was in college, said Puri.