Views/Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj
In the story of modern Indian art, few possess the strength, determination,
and creative range of Satish Gujral. Painter, sculptor, muralist, architect—Gujral
wasn't limited to any medium, geography, or artistic fashion of the time.
Instead, he created a deeply personal visual language forged from a relentless
exploration of trauma, memory, and identity.
Born in 1925 in Jhelum, Punjab (now in Pakistan), Satish Gujral's early
life wasn't easy. A childhood accident left him with a hearing loss. The
question of what he would do with his life was a pressing one. In a world
filled with sounds, he learned to interpret silence. Drawing and his early
study of Urdu literature guided his life. Art was most helpful to him because
it emphasised seeing and feeling more than hearing. His study of Urdu
literature helped him integrate narrative into his paintings. This is why we
see a narrative element in his works, as well as a theatrical effect, in which
even static characters are brought into motion.
In 1939, he enrolled at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, one of the
region's most renowned art institutions. He later continued his studies at the
Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay. There, he met members of the Progressive Artists
Group, including artists like F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, and M. F. Husain. Souza
wanted Satish Gujral to join the Progressive Artists Group (PAG), but he did
not approve. The PAG artists emphasised Western modernism, while Gujral
believed in the exploration of Indian art. While studying at the JJ School, he
studied European art but never allowed it to influence his work.
In 1952, Gujral received a scholarship to study at the Palacio de Bellas
Artes in Mexico City. There, he worked as an apprentice under two major names
in the muralist movement: Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. This
experience broadened his artistic horizons, as Rivera and Siqueiros were
renowned for their murals and sculpture, not just their paintings. Gujral learned not only the technical aspects of mural creation but also the importance of an
artist expressing their culture and time through their art. In a 2005 interview
with this author, he admitted that his trip to Mexico was a turning point for
him.
Mexican murals weren't just gallery-orientated art—they were the art of the
masses, executed on walls in public spaces, and explored both history and the
present on a broad scale. This experience gave Gujral a new direction.
Consequently, his later works acquired a narrative and three-dimensional
effect. His experiments with materials—burning wood, exploring texture, and
mixing various mediums—established his distinct identity. His studies in Mexico
introduced him to the importance of sociality in art. He demonstrated how
dramatic impact can be achieved in paintings. Therefore, the human and other
figures in his works appear more like sculptures than paintings.
His studies in Mexico inspired him to revisit and reflect on the trauma of his
childhood, as well as the traumatic experience of the 1947 Partition. He
witnessed displacement and violence firsthand. The experience of evacuating
his family from Lahore was an unforgettable experience for him. This experience
manifested itself in powerful visual compositions in his works. The human
figures in his works often appear tense, twisted, or stuck in mid-air—as if
history itself were pressing down on them. But this phase was not permanent.
Over time, he embraced the exploration of imagination, love, hope, and
possibilities in life, expanding his art.
A characteristic of his works from this period is the use of dark colours,
especially black, which effectively conveyed the grief and uncertainty of that
era. His use of black wasn't decorative. It stemmed from experience. It stemmed
from memory—an attempt to give form to darkness without surrendering to it.
This continued in his work later. Once, during a major exhibition at the Lalit
Kala Akademi in Delhi, he painted an entire gallery black. In that dark
atmosphere, his paintings and sculptures had a distinct impact.
A distinctive feature of Gujral's art is dynamism. Whether depicting human
figures or horses, his subjects rarely appear static. They bend, twist, tense,
and move. Even in sculpture, the forms appear alive and dynamic, possessed by
inner power. This dynamism is intensified when he creates a game, composes
music, or creates horses and bulls. Just as the movement of an inner voice
enlivens each moment in silence, Satish Gujral enabled dynamic vitality in each
form and composition of his paintings. Despite his hearing loss, he also
created works to music. His works often display repetitions of themes and
forms, as if the same story, or a similar story, is repeated again and again,
but with variations in each repetition that alter its meaning. Therefore,
despite many similarities, Satish Gujral's vast creative world encompasses a
vast and diverse world of experience and expression. In his later works, which
focused on Partition, we see a greater exuberance of life. A celebration of
life is evident there.
Gujral wasn't confined to painting and sculpture. He also made a
significant mark as an architect. His most famous architectural achievement is
the design of the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi.
Throughout his career, Gujral exhibited internationally and received
numerous honours, including three times India's National Award for Painting and
Sculpture. In 1999, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country's
second-highest civilian honour.
Images courtesy of The Gujral Foundation, Delhi Art Gallery, and Google.
