While a woman’s portrait is an invention... it is always an invention that celebrates a gift of nature. But those of famous men and women are an invention that goes beyond likeness and natural endowments and becomes an interpretation of their personalities, if only as grasped by the sculptor. (Sculptor) Sarbari Roy Chowdhury’s account of the making of his portrait of (sarod maestro) Ali Akbar Khan is helpful in understanding what this involves.

Watching Ali Akbar perform in musical concerts, Sarbari noticed how his face was deeply contemplative. It reminded him of the Buddha. He wanted to capture this in a sculpture and persuaded the maestro to sit for him. But to his consternation Sarbari discovered that the face of Ali Akbar the man and Ali Akbar the musician were not the same, one was plain as the other was profoundly contemplative.

‘By about the third day,’ he recounts, ‘I knew I was in trouble. No matter what, I could not see that expression. By the fifth day I was desperate, I wanted him to play, but didn’t have the courage to ask him.

‘The next day his son, Dhyanesh, was playing the sarod sitting by his feet. He played a false note and, hey presto! There was the look I was after… He lost his patience, shouted at his son and, grabbing the instrument from his son, he began to play.

‘The moment he had the sarod in his hand, his face assumed the look I wanted so badly! His eyes drooped; his lips swelled and became translucent, I was utterly mesmerised. For me, it was like finding God! I begged him to play for an hour. He did, and I had my sculpture.’

Extracted from Sensibility Objectified: The Sculptures of Sarbari Roy Choudhury (R. Siva Kumar). The maestro died on June 19.