A Picture Perfect Job?

Gradually,more students enter the studio,but Kumar remains at the centre of everyone’s attention.

He is their model for the next two weeks,as students learn the intricacies of anatomic and proportion drawing,for which they need to deeply study and understand their model’s character and expressions.

But for Kumar,it’s just another day at work: to see his image recreated on various canvases — in pencil,in line drawing and in colour.

It’s no longer a novelty for the 50-year-old,who visits the college five-days a week from 9 AM till 5 PM. It’s a ritual that has not changed for last 12 years.

“It’s my bread-and-butter. I pose the way I am directed to,and I get paid either on daily basis or on hourly basis. These children are nice. I see them getting better year after year. While some of them even take out time to talk to me and other models,for many others,it’s just work,’’ says Kumar,who came to the city in search of work from a small village near Lucknow. He says he finds the college a secure place to work.

Saral Kumar,a second-year BFA student,is doing some shading on Kumar’s portrait. He is going to spend the next few weeks doing studying Kumar. “We’ve been with these models for some time now. We want to try new faces,especially if we can get to study some fresh,young faces,but not many are forthcoming for this job,’’ rues Saral.

“Certainly,it would be more interesting to have variations,’’ Dhiman echoes his views,as Kumar sits in front of them for another session.

Elsewhere at the sculpture studio,Sapna Morya is playing the muse for a bunch of young sculptors. Morya has been in the college for more than 12 years now. Coming from a nearby basti,she says this job is a decent way of earning a living,although the 30-year-old wishes the remuneration could be more,considering the rising prices. Morya also comes here five-days a week,and finds the students respectful and sensitive to her needs.

Shiv Shankar Singh,a student of MFA first-year,says patience to keep sitting in the same position for hours comes only if a model has been doing this for years. “We had two young women come in to model for us,as we needed fresh faces,but they could not sit for more than 15 minutes at a stretch and we just could not focus,’’ says Singh,also adding that it’s sometimes monotonous to work with the same models.

Santosh Kumar has been a model at the college for more than 25 years now. His mother Kamlawati was also here for many years. “She’s now old and can’t work. I came here looking for a job and have been here ever since,’’ says Kumar.

“Strangely,I don’t have even a single portrait of myself,though thousands have been made,” he adds.

Kumar shares a special bond with some students,and says that many of them come to meet him even long after they have left the college.

“Yeh artist dil ke achhe hote hain (these artists are good at heart),’’ he adds.

Manjot Kaur,a final-year MFA painting student,who has painted all the models here,says,“We want some younger faces and lighter skin tones to work on. Also,we miss more proportionate bodies and we need to sometimes have children as models.’’