It began humbly enough born in a cowshed into a once-illustrious family, Manjit Bawa displayed no signs of genius as he played truant at school and with a rooster tucked rakishly under his arm, frequented cockfighting competitions. To keep him out of trouble his elder brother manmohan a commercial artist, made Manjit model for him, until Manjit, mesmerized by the magic of pencil and charcoal tried his own hand at art.
When he decided to make a career of it petty politics and prejudices at the Delhi art college and beyond connived to smother him but Manjit persevered vigilante-like to challenge the system and find his won voice. Rejecting his contemporaries who blindly aped Western trends Manjit chose to base his art on Indian mythology and references, shunning greys, dull blues and browns and adopting as his own brazen yellows, luminous greens, bright crimson, turquoise and indigo. Though critics and buyers alike resisted him initially it was not long before a Bawa solo show was completely sold out.
Chronicling Manjit Bawa's personal and professional life and the myriad experiences and influences that shaped him as an artist and a man Ina Puri presents to us his various facets-artist, poet, pacifist, singer, musician, actor, father and friend. She gives us delightful peeks into Bawa's life and his milieu as he cycles across the countryside with charcoal stick in hand, sketching bearded fakirs, Sufi singers and monuments in ruins; walks behind Bertrand Russell in an anti-war Procession in London and organizes along with fellow artists, Rejects 1984, an exhibition to deride the establishment which had spurned their works.
Evocative and insightful, In Black and White has a Manjit Bawa says in his foreword the right mix of colours.
About the Author:
Ina Puri has been actively involved in the promotion of Indian art and artists for over two and a half decades. She has been imaginatively showcasing Indian art in major art centers across the globe. In the past eight years, she has been closely associated with Manjit Bawa, overseeing all his exhibitions and art project.
A columnist and author Ina Puri has written a memoir of Padma Vibhushan Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Journey with a Hundred strings: My life in Music, a short biopic on Manjit Bawa, In My Own Words and edited Raj Bhavan of Kolkata: 200 years of Grandeur. She has produced Meeting Manjit, a documentary on the life and work of Manjit Bawa which won the Rajat Kamal in 2003 she is presently editing a book on Manjit Bawa's art.
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