Moving Focus (Essays on Indian Art)

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About the Author

Born 1924, in Kerala, K.G. Subranmanyan, a reputed painter, muralist and scholar, he took his education at the Presidency College, Madras, and at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. Widely travelled, Prof. Subramanyan has exhibited in India and abroad and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as Bombay Art Society Award (1957 & 1959), Honourable mention at Sao Paulo (1961), National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi (1965) Subramanyan also received Gold Medal at the First Triennale India.

In 1975, Government of India conferred Padma Shri on K.G. Subramanyan for his contribution to Indian Art. In 1981, subramanyan was honoured with 'Kalidas Samman' and in 1985, Lalit Kala Akademi elected him as Fellow of the Akademi. In 1991, Visva Bharati decorated him with Aban Gagan Puraskar.

In 1992, he received D. Litt. Honoris Casua from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta and in 1997 from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. In 2001, Government of Kerala, honoured him with Manaviyam Ravi Varma Award. Lalit Kala Akademi in their Golden Jubilee celebrations, 2005, conferred him with the Kala Ratna. In January 2006 he has received the Padma Bhushan.

Foreword

A mature artist's insight, a serious teacher's circumspection and sound scholarship combine to make the writing of K.G. Subramanyan quite unique and distinctive.

His views on the chords and discords inherent in the relationship between tradition and modernism the particularly notable; I have seldom encountered comparable clarity and thoughtfulness in any other contemporary artist of art critic.

Really speaking a cultured artist like K.G. Subramanyan needs no introduction. So these few words of mine are just to register my personal reaction to his writing.-Benode Behari Mukhopadhyay

Preface

This volume is a collection of articles and talks spread over fifteen years. They are mostly, as the title itself suggests, round the focal changes as have taken place, or are still taking place in the art situation of our time and attempt to get in into a kind of perspective in their light. As each of these have been written for a different occasion certain points have been made over and over, though in the editing an effort has been made to avoid very obvious repetitions. By and large each of these is centered round a special area or problem or person and, is coming from an artist, they are part of his attempt to explain these to himself and at a second step to others. To this extent the author admits that they are personal of sorts and are limited by his susceptibilities and enthusiasms though he has tried to see things in as large a perspective as possible. As mentioned in one of the essays he is acutely aware that any such writing is bound to be conditioned by the questions current at the time it is written and its main value will be in how much clarity and depth it is able to bring to a particular situation and how valid its basic insights are.

If there are some grains of such value in these essays the author feels he owes a lot of it to his illustrious artist-teachers, Nandalal Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinker Baij, whose sheer working presence underscored for him the seriousness of art activity, especially his association with Benode Behari Mukherjee, whose openness and clear mindedness he has always found inspiring. He considers it a privilege that Sjt. Mukherjee has written a few words of introduction to his volume.

This publication would not have materialized if it were not for the enthusiasm of Shri Gulam Sheikh who has selected and compiled the individual pieces and brought them together into some kind of order and sequence.

Most of the essays have already been in print, as can be seen from the note on sources; thanks are due to the various journals and organizations that have graciously permitted their use. The author also wants to express his indebtedness to the writings of various artists and scholars which have increased his understanding of specific questions or supported his point of view; wherever any reference has been made to these they have been gratefully acknowledged in the notes.

Finally, the author thanks the Lalit Kala Akademi for undertaking this publication and its editorial staff for the great care with which they have seen it through.