Bengal has a tradition of artists writing letters illuminated with miniature pictures. Rabindranath, Gaganendranath, Abanindranath, Nandalal Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee did it, and so did Ganesh Pyne (1937-2013). The latter’s letters to the poet and scholar, Anjan Sen, were displayed at a recent exhibition titled Letters from
a Painter to a Poet organised by the Birla Academy of Art & Culture. Pyne mainly used inland letters, postcards, blank, white sheets of paper and thick board.
The tone was serio-comic, the humour, at times, being self-deprecatory. Mocking his name, Pyne depicted himself as an elephant-headed deity. Ganesh’s mount made occasional appearances. The letters were written in a hybrid language, including a parody of Sanskrit, that was meant to give them a mock epic tone. However, they often contained serious discussions on art, literature, theatre and cinema, given that Pyne was an aficionado of both mediums. He discussed the art scene, making critical remarks about his own exhibitions and the books produced on his art. The infamous “loadshedding” of those days was referred to. Pyne met his friends, fellow artists and littérateurs at three haunts — Soda Fountain in Dharamtalla, Basanta Cabin, which had shifted from opposite the Medical College to College Street Market, and Mandar Studio, where he drew Disney-inspired cartoons. Anjan Sen met him at these addas where many topical issues were hotly discussed.
The miniature pictures were, at times, minuscule versions of some of his well-known works. There were pen-and-ink drawings and watercolours as well. One drawing of a porcupine-human hybrid was clearly inspired by Sukumar Ray. The first letter is dated December 1981 and the ultimate May 2001. The metallic smoking lamp, the lamp with a glass chimney, a white barn owl, the furry rodent, a huge bird with outstretched wings, a magician, an assassin, a baul, a figure wearing a halo and riding a rocking horse painted in the style of a Russian icon, the cartoon of a beheaded Brahma were all there. In these works, we catch a glimpse of Ganesh Pyne’s perfervid imagination.
