In his essay on Sudip Roy’s watercolors (Art Heritage, 1995-96), E. Alkazi noted that the “Fluidity and transparency are characteristic of the medium of watercolour, and they invest the subjects treated with a spirit of mutability and change. The impression seized by the artist’s eye is transmitted to his fingers, and thence to the tip of the brush which may skate over the watery surface in broad sweeps or tease it with the most delicate touches. The viewer looks in a watercolour for the same translucent limpidity that the listener expects in a piece of fine musicianship. The white space of the empty page is to the painter what silence is to the musician, and the tracery of lines or subdued tones, softend by the watery medium, are like the notes evoked by the musician.”

Partha Chatterjee’s observed of B C Sanyal’s practice, “When he is quiet and collected, he paints in oils, when an impulses seizes him then it is watercolours”, and Alkazi further elaborated on this thought stating, “…. artists have been chiefly concerned with the idea of condensing the lyrical impulse into almost abstract forms, a tendency which is encouraged by the very nature of the medium.”

The Lyrical Impulse explores water-based works by three senior artists – Devraj Dakoji, Jean Bhownagary and Seema Kohli – each of whom takes a distinctively different approach to the medium. None simply relegate the medium to the subject or size for which it is traditionally known – small landscapes – rather, each uses and manipulates this inherently mischievous and unruly medium to suit their own purpose.

Devraj Dakoji’s watercolours – both in black and white and in colour, deceptively appear to be abstract in nature, but a closer examination reveal discernable forms that the artist has continuously experimented with in his Wheel of Life and his Rock print series – forms that reveal man’s relationship to nature. Many of the watercolours and Sumi ink paintings contain a sense of frenetic energy – but it’s not the individual elements of work themselves that are bursting forth with the ‘impulse’ that Partha Chatterjee’s referred to in Sanyal’s work – it is in fact the composition as a whole that grips and invigorates the viewer.

Jean Bhownagary on the other hand, with a few brisk and energetic brush strokes creates a sense of movement, as in the works of trees being blasted by strong, invisible gusts of wind. These well-defined elements – made with concentrated watercolour solutions – are mixed in to a terrain of softer, amorphous, shapeless forms, which likely resulted from highly diluted preparations – thus demonstrating on a single piece of paper the versatility of both the medium and the command of its practitioner. In his nude studies, Bhownagary outlines the basic form of the figure with bold strokes, but allows the water to guide the paint suspended in it towards select parts of the body and in to the background. The resulting nooks and crevices in which the paint finally settles creates an aura and mood within which the figure is suspended – articulating states of mind and circumstances.

Finally, water-based elements – gouache, watercolours and tea/coffee stained solutions – are one of many ingredients in Seema Kohli’s mixed media works.  Though they typically reside in the background, forming a foundational base upon which Kohli superimposes her intricately drawn pen and ink figures – each carefully chosen solution – calibrated precisely to just the right hue and tone – enables the creation of an intricately conceived cosmic space that highlights key themes pervasive in Kohli’s works, including myth, religion, collective humanity, sensuality and spirituality.

Date

14 Feb - 5 Mar 2022

Artists

Devraj Dakoji, Seema Kohli, Jean Bhownagary

Medium

Watercolour