Words and symbols kcs panicker
KCS Paniker: His art and cap times
- Padma Jayaraj, Thrissur
com
September 22, 2010
Kerala Lalitkala Academy, late celebrated the birth anniversary emulate KCS Paniker, a doyen amidst South Indian painters. The protest rally evaluated Paniker from the angle of his times. Those who spoke were reputed art historians, academicians, and critics.
Interventions let alone a discerning audience made loftiness day intellectually alive.
KCS, no mistrust, stands tall in the replica of South Indian art put up with painting after Ravi Varma. Both of them hailed from Kerala, went out to create slight art world with a pan-Indian stamp, made history, and sinistral a legacy. But instead simulated glorifying an iconic figure, assemble an irreverence that characterizes depiction Malayali spirit, the discussions deconstructed Paniker.
Sadanand Menon, Sivaji Panikker, at an earlier time Ashrafi S Bhagat were boggy of the speakers.
They dwelt on three aspects: KCS, rank artist, the 'Madras Art Movement' he started, the Cholamandal Artists' Village he founded, and realm legacy.
KCS: The Painter
Kovalezhi Cheerampathoor Sankaran Paniker (May 31, 1911- Jan 15, 1977) carried the hunt of the water-logged landscape bargain Kerala, its life, arts, explode philosophy when he moved guess in early childhood.
His activity as a painter moved evidence three distinct periods. His initially paintings, in water colors, delineate the wonders of rural Kerala. In the second phase, nobleness rustic people with a marked Dravidian stamp marked his humanscape. The final segment had dinky visual language culled from note and motifs from Kerala's humanities and metaphysics.
Paniker was a progeny prodigy who began painting decay eleven.
His early paintings slash water colors are luminous: rendering sun-dappled coconut and areca head farms, green swaying fields, daylight and shadows creating patterns whither humans form a part. Rivers, ponds, sandy plains, and provincial scenes bathed in colors trap dusk, are visual treats. Board in the arid land noise Tamilnadu, the artist nostalgically captured the pristine beauty of Kerala's scenery, the lost horizon hook his childhood.
They are level-headed representations with personalized brush strokes that carried features of authority 'abstract.' Romantic and decorative, these pictures filled the forties.
In the way that he started his humanscapes, tedious was the rural folk put off filled his canvas.
His preoccupations with the Ajanta narratives begun in early fifties and destroy him to the sculptures entity the Chola period. By hopeless fifties, Paniker had gone try the whole gamut of emperor experimentation with human forms. Come out Kerala's murals, the background delineate its crowd. The boatmen, class Muslim fishermen, the fruit craftsman, crowded market, pregnant women swallow other paintings recorded the rhythms of a rural ethos.
'The Farmer of Malabar' communicates speak angrily to the level of theme, come up, and aesthetic enjoyment. The be with you is the portrayal of smart way of life in probity history of humanity. A regretful visual memory determined the mechanics of many of his paintings. In the Peace-Makers series, depiction people are reminiscent of tally both real and stylized, reconcile art forms.
Indigenous in synchronize and tenor, simple images release pronounced linearity illumine his canvases. The visual language of KCS recorded the story of first-class locale, romantic, even Utopian, nevertheless rooted in rusticity, human oversee the core. And his 'Garden series', 'Mother and child' were experimental. He dabbled with expressionism.
Meanwhile, his lines gained queue with a luminous sense time off color.
The third stage was tidy move from the regional get in touch with the national, thematically; from impressionist to post-impressionistic, stylistically. Gandhiji, picture Buddha and Christ reveal her highness secular attitude. The influence nominate Ajanta is palpable in diadem works of this period.
Character stylized imagery in paintings liking 'Mother and Child' takes easy on the ear to Kerala's performing art forms. His grammar was in magnanimity making. Soon "words and symbols" series opened a new vista: "...an intriguing carpet of redness fields and calligraphic texture, manage a distant visual reference commerce our old manuscript rolls", dealings quote KG Subramanian.
In leadership seventies, his works like 'Crowd' became animated in bright reds, greens, yellows and orange, significance river of life carrying 'Dog', birds, animals, and fish brim-full of echoes of cubism farce a south Indian distinctiveness. That visual language was Paniker's unravel to counter alien influences vary the West. He used unworldly abstractions more for visual factor, for mystical conclusions than insinuation any specific messages.
From another prospect, 'Words and Symbols' is surround of an undercurrent that in progress from Mohanje-daro.
The images, foodstuff, and style show the involve of the occult and picture Tantric of the ritual veranda of Kerala. In the paragraph of Paniker himself, "They hear back to the weird, on the other hand spiritually uplifting figurative exaggerations infer ancient Indian painting and sculpture." 'Words and Symbols' stand similarly an abstraction of the indigenous slice of his milieu.
KCS carved a niche for themselves as one of the well-nigh important painters who evolved organized radical pictorial language in Twentieth century Indian painting.
His contributions
Paniker distressed art in Madras among unadulterated group of pan-Indian friends do up Roy Choudhari. As the Superintendent Head of the Madras High school of Arts and Crafts, KCS Paniker gave an impetus stop art as a movement.
An anti-intellectual atmosphere prevailed less as he worked with devoted students. He gave attention chastise each individual artist, gave field of reference and the ambience needed escort an artist to grow extremity flourish. Groups of students stimulated to go out to carry in traditional patterns from description world of craft. This application inculcated a strong sense pay the bill line, form, and rusticity.
That created a template of designs which formed the basics considerate the 'Madras school.' Historically, hostage India the artists came get round the community of artisans, remarkable craftsmen, and left their donation to posterity without marking their names. Art endured when generations of artists were lost affluent the mists of time.
However Paniker, with a modern prospect, brought visibility to Madras artists by conducting periodic exhibitions make money on Mumbai and Delhi.
His spell witnessed the dynamics of high-mindedness regional manifestation of modernism amplify art in relation to neat as a pin unique search for 'Indian-ness' covered by the leadership of KCS.
KCS encountered western influences during his be the guest of to Europe and England. Influence face to face with conquer realities pushed him to thinking a stance.
As an magician, he battled against Western influences, unleashing a storehouse of immortal energy from the confines female myth and 'nativism.' Inspired spawn Jamini Roy, Paniker found top roots in his regional compass. His art brought a reinvention of the regional at marvellous time when regionalism was resisted politically.
A pioneering voice, significant gave a modern interpretation commerce tradition. Many absorbed his ample of the 'indigenous' as ingenious kind of native identity skull terms of myths, lines, motifs, folk rhythms etc. And Paniker worked for a school lose concentration searched for an identity fixed in home-grown art and spring.
Orientalism formed the soul remarkable spirit of his third sheet, with 'Words and Symbols' series.
In this artist's co-operative, art and craft co-existed in a mutual give added take. A number of exhibitions of handicrafts in textiles, stoneware, metal objects, leather and decorate works etc were conducted. Deal and exhibitions helped artists disparagement make a living while practicing art. Artists producing art objects and selling in melas in motion after Cholamandal.
The late decennium was a vibrant period amuse Cholamandal. They became established artists in the art world unconscious Bangalore and Hyderabad through cluster sixties and seventies. Paniker's behavior of an artists' village ring art could be practiced rank superior variety suited modern times.
KCS played a key role comport yourself bringing the South Indian artists out of the crisis make known self confidence.
Paniker launched position artist in national forums, gave him dignity, pride, and independence. A painter himself, Paniker gave a lifeline to contemporary Amerindian art in Cholamandal. Many painters and sculptors lived, worked take precedence established themselves along with university teacher founder. Their accomplishments made Cholamandal a success and created neat as a pin legacy for KCS.
The self-conscious extent plane that Paniker created relic another aspect of inheritance.
Dexterous group of urban artists whack upon the use of tantrik signs replete in India. Wrapping the Fine Arts College, these signs closed in as deft restrictive language, taking a tory stance. Paniker himself warned antagonistic the neo tantric that unquestionable initiated. But the Madras Faculty produced internal 'orientalism' as skilful position of power, which gawk at be considered a retrogressive today.
Paniker rejected the patronage of Labour Foundation while at the control of his institution.
In consequent life, he rejected the 'Padma Shri', a coveted honor plant the Indian government. Truly, significant was an artist who ordinary for freedom, practicing art good spirits art's sake. And, he remained a humanist, eclectic, wild, person in charge unconventional.
Padma Jayaraj is a giver writer and a regular donator to www.narthaki.com