Ina Puri with Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the release of In Black & White, the biography of artist Manjit Bawa; (above) Purnima Dhawan and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw at the launch of Gallery 302

The launch of a biography is occasion for celebration of a life well lived but sometimes it can be tinged with sadness. That was the case at the release of In Black & White, the ‘authorised biography’ of artist Manjit Bawa. Penned by close friend and curator Ina Puri, the book which has been published by Penguin Books India, was released recently at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi. Bawa is currently unwell and was in a coma at the time of the launch.

The book, priced at Rs 425, was formally launched by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission. Also there to talk about the artist were Rajeev Lochan, director, National Gallery of Modern Arts, artist Krishen Khanna and Puri herself. The audience comprised mainly the artist community with names like Shamshad Husain, Amitava Das, Rameshwar Broota, Vasundhara Tewari Broota, Anjolie Ela Menon, Paresh Maity and Paramjit Singh.

The event started with a documentary about the painter which focused on his humble beginnings. There were pictures of a young Bawa with a rooster tucked rakishly under his arm (on his way to a cockfighting competition). It took the audience into a journey that started with Bawa’s elder brother, a commercial artist, making him model for him to keep him out of trouble. Soon afterwards, Bawa, mesmerised by the magic of pencil and charcoal, tried his own hand at art.

“I have always wondered at the relationship that Manjit established between animals and humans in his work. It became clear as I read the book and discovered that the relationship was forged when his father bought their first cow in 1943,” said Khanna as he read out portions from the biography.

And if you have been wondering about the word ‘authorised’, Lochan explained it all. He said, “The word ‘authorised’ is significant. It implies that Manjit knew all the time what Ina was up to.”

New beginnings

Another name has just been added to the mushrooming list of art galleries in Delhi. Situated in Defence Colony and owned by a former ITC executive Purnima Dhawan, Gallery 302 is the latest entrant in the list.

Dhawan has been a long-time art collector and she has now decided to turn her interest into a business. “I started collecting art as a hobby and it was my friends from the art community who encouraged me to open a gallery. It also gives an opportunity to upcoming artists to showcase their works,” she said.

The gallery was inaugurated by Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Exhibited in the four-room gallery were the works of 25 contemporary artists from Bengal. A huge crowd turned up for the opening though oddly enough none of the artists on show came.

Dhawan says that the exhibition showcased different aspects of Bengal. It included artist Chandra Bhattacharjee’s depiction of the Santhal tribe, Samir Aich’s abstract forms redefining space and time and Partho Shaw’s cityscapes inspired by the bustling life of Calcutta.

The inauguration was followed by the release of Partho Sen’s A Tree in My Village. The book, illustrated with his pen and ink sketches, first appeared as part of an earlier work titled Zindabahar, which was about his childhood. It narrates the story of an Arjuna tree in his village and the impact it made on his young mind and imagination. The octogenarian artist was not present on the occasion but the book was released by well-known artist A Ramachandran.

Some of the known artists spotted admiring the paintings were Jatin Das, Satish Gupta and Satish Gujral, all accompanied by their respective wives.

Photographs by Jagan Negi and Rupinder Sharma