For years, late Jangarh Singh Shyam painted on the floors and walls of his home in the interiors of Madhya Pradesh; only much later was his talent discovered and eventually, he became the face of Gond art. The ongoing show — 20th Century Tribal Art and Bronzes — is an attempt to bring the works of Shyam and a few other tribal artists to Hyderabad, where over 64 paintings and sculptures, many dating back to 1920s and 1950s, are on display.
Bronze sculpture from the show.
Lakshmi Nambiar, owner of Shrishti Art Gallery, says, “My mum, Remani, had planned to do a show on Shyam’s work which never happened. So this is me, picking up from there.”
On display are works of late Jangarh Singh, Ramsingh and Satrupa Urveti, apart from paintings from the Santhal tribe and sculptures from the Kond and Bastar tribes. Gond art sees an extensive use of dots, lines and other geometric shapes, mostly done in black and white.
“Jangarh Singh used to paint in his village. No one knew about him until artist Jagdish Swaminathan found him and took him to Bhopal. After a while, Shyam brought other artists from his tribe to the city and one of them happened to be Ramsingh. That’s how Gond art actually came to the forefront in the ’80s,” she says. Gond art earned fame in France and Japan, and it was in Japan that Shyam, later committed suicide. The works on display give you a glimpse into tribal life, the focus being on flora and fauna. The bronze figures that are worth a visit are from Bastar, Chhattisgarh and from Kond in South Odisha.
Art works from the exhibition.
“The bronze figures are made using an unusual technique by moulding metal forms by cire perdue (lost-wax technique). The detailing of the outer surface on a clay model is created with press-ejected wires of beeswax, also known as ‘dhuna’,” explains Lakshmi, who had taken a few of the sculptures from her mum’s collection and the rest, from people she knew.
