These painters, known for their mature vocabulary, had tasted success earlier for work in a style that was radically different
A Journey Through Pain
SATISH GUJRAL
b. 1925
Satish Gujral is hearing impaired, yet this has little bearing on his art, for which he trained in Lahore and Bombay. His early work resonates with a feeling of loss, the result of Partition that sundered the country and created geographical barriers which left emotional scars on the people who bore the physical burden of its violence. This series, one of the rare voices that lent to the country’s visual documentation of Partition’s horror, would continue to be enriched after a trip to Mexico and a meeting with Diego Rivera.
His return to India after a stint in America saw Gujral’s work change in more ways than one. Though he remained experimental, the palette became more decorative, the context more affirmative. It was as if he was struggling to project a voice that was celebratory, moving beyond the negative to ideas that found a resonance in what might be considered hopeful. Musicians, dancers, jugglers, athletes: These were components that defined his painterly universe, resulting in his popularity in a society that no longer had space on its walls for laments of despair.
(This story appears in the May-June 2014 issue of ForbesLife India. To visit our Archives, click here.)