A painting by Samindranath Majumdar

Samindranath Mazumdar’s solo show of paintings at Akar Prakar gallery is like a revelation as a certain shaft of strong light strikes the onlookers. There are some common mediums like acrylic on canvas, tempera and watercolours on paper. But for Mazumdar, the medium and the surface are integral parts of the message. In a couple of watercolours named For my remembering hour is done, there are linear nude human figures. Mostly, however, his paintings are abstracts of landscapes and excavated archeological sites in the wilderness bathed in mysterious light or shadows. Pranab Ranjan Ray thinks that the lighted surfaces spring from the tradition of Abanindranath and Mughal paintings. He might have overlooked a fact. Samindranath is a descended of Hemendranath Mazumdar, who studied light and skin tones through wet clothes while using exposed skin as a contrast. The ability to depict the effluence of light is part of his inherited gift.

Sajal Ray’s exhibition at Chitrakoot had 15 gouache paintings along with seven serious sketch pen drawings. Till recently he was only known among artists. At 71, he is suddenly finding himself being recognised by the public as well. In the present series, wooden horses of the merry-go-round type and human and animal forms from the puppet shows acquire an animated hue.

Sometimes their actions have tragic seriousness as in Bewildered. It shows a ship tossing against the dark foreboding waters in the harbour and a frightened horse turns his head to look at the scene while running to safety. Pale yellow, various shades of blue, grey and a touch of Indian red build up the visual allegory. In works like A showman of the circus, the human and animal protagonists take on the characteristics of puppets pulled by strings. The comical became hilarious in Horse and the jester and A woman and a horse.

The exhibition of Manoj Mitra’s recent works at the Chitrakoot have 21 drawings and paintings that are highly romantic. Mitra’s romanticism, however, is rather literary in nature and reminds one of the poetry of Wordsworth and Tagore. Most of the works are pen and ink drawings or watercolours. There are also a few oil paintings. Women embody the character of the tree spirit and sometimes emerge from the forest “converging” with a tiger.