‘I want to spend the rest of my life in Delhi’

Congratulations,you turned 88 this week.
Thank you. We had a small celebration. It feels nice when people turn up to wish,but what I really enjoyed was the chance to see some of my old works that were exhibited at the do. It makes me feel that all that I have done has not been in vain. I have done some good work and people in India appreciate it. France has been my home for several years,but I would move back to India hopefully by next year. I will stay in Delhi. I want to spend the rest of my life here.

shifted to France in 1950,when you went to study at Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Did you intend to settle there on your very first trip?
France did a lot of good for my art but it was my marriage to Janine that made me stay in France. She was an only daughter and her mother wanted her to be nearby.

continued to visit India each year. How important was the annual visit?
It was very important. I have a deep relationship with the country. Even now India is an integral part of my work. For the show at Vadehra I have given two new canvases. One is a bindu,the other is based on the Nagas. I’m also painting another work inspired by Rajasthan. I am constantly reading about India,Indian philosophy and ideology. Now,I’m reading the Bhagavad Gita.

elieve your schoolteacher at Jharia in Madhya Pradesh introduced you to bindu. You were seven then. He drew it on the board and asked you to concentrate on it. What prompted you to paint it? It did not appear on your paintings till the 1970s.
I would divide my art into three distinct periods. There was the initial phase when I was still learning the nuances of line and colour. The second phase began in the 1950s when I moved to France. That is when I did a lot of landscapes,but I found something missing in my art. That is when I went into isolation and started looking at Indian iconography in the 1970s. I travelled a lot across India,including the Ajanta caves and Banaras.

were one of the founder members of the Progressive Artists Group that was established in 1947. Do you remember the discussions you had as part of the group?
The group encouraged each member to find their own way,work in their style. We used to discuss almost everything,from art to our personal concerns. FN Souza talked a lot,I spoke little,VS Gaitonde hardly spoke. We used to purchase each other’s work,even gift it. After I moved to Paris,I lost touch with the activities of the group.

t year,the Indian art market too was affected by the global economic slowdown. Do such ups and downs concern you as an artist?
It is cyclic. There are low phases,but Indian art is doing well now. It is up to the artists to continue to do their work.

t drives you to paint?
It is the desire to continue. I can’t spend long hours in the studio,but I am there two-three hours every day. I even carry my paints while travelling.

The exhibition is on from March 3 to 24 at Vadehra Art Gallery,Defence Colony. Contact: 2615368