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Rural romance
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Gavi Gangadhar presents the countryside in gentle strokes
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NEATLY ETCHED The black-and-white illustrations present the rural world as a warm and welcoming place
Sharply detailed black-and-white illustrations unfolding vignettes of rural life marked the works of Gavi Gangadhar which were on display at Chitrakala Parishat recently.
In his images, the artist tried to recreate balanced compositions of unidentified countryside, suffusing them with rural folk at work and play. Most of the scenes outlined the rural world as a warm and welcoming place.
Solemn scenes
Gangadhar, a self-taught artist, settled for quiet and solemn pictures, focusing on small incidents of farm life in which working people are specifically included. It could be the washerwoman pounding her clothes on a rough stone along a river or the scrawny oarsman using his long pole to navigate a small boat on the backwaters.
There were instances of playfulness where young boys and girls indulging in their pranks. There was also a hint of struggle like the pair of oxen pulling a fully laden cart in knee-deep waters. Birds and animals figured prominently in most of the pictures.
Typical sequence
In a typical sequence, one saw a couple of boys sitting on an elephant, while another set of youngsters swam in the pond. In the same image, the artist delineated in the foreground a group of women washing utensils on a rock with a shepherd walking with his animals in the background. A tree with a large bark and outstretched branches also formed part of the scene.
While the viewer appreciated the skill and effort of the artist to attain a certain level of finesse in such illustrations, it was also obvious that Gangadhar's oeuvre was limited in both concept and content. The ultimate result was a rather romanticised portrayal of rural landscape.
ATHREYA
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