Do It Your Own Way

I decided to be a painter when I was 11 years old. Ten years later when I decided to come to Mumbai, it was a difficult decision. I didn't h...

I decided to be a painter when I was 11 years old. Ten years later when I decided to come to Mumbai, it was a difficult decision. I didn8217;t have much money and my father couldn8217;t help me either. I slept on the footpath for the first few days and got paid six annas a month. It took 18 years before my work was noticed. But I was always confident that I would make it.

I painted billboards and film posters for a living when I first came to Mumbai. I didn8217;t know anyone in the city, but it didn8217;t stop me from painting. In 1947, when I had my first exhibition, I decided to give up my job and paint full-time.

That8217;s when F.N. Souza saw my work and invited me to join the Progressive Artists8217; Group. My early paintings were Impressionist, under the influence of the group. I learnt a lot from Souza, we would discuss and experiment with our work. He became my mentor.

Although we worked as a unit, we developed very different styles from one another. European art was the call of the day then. Soon, S.H. Raza and Souza left to study, work and travel in Europe. At that time, I was most interested in the unique composite culture of India and it reflected in my work.

So, while the established painters were heavily influenced by European art, my work was firmly rooted in Indian culture. Everyone told me that I was finished, that I wasn8217;t keeping with the times. I would choose two or three epochs of our 5,000 year-old civilisation and interpret them in a contemporary context, to make them relevant to the times. This was the most important decision in my career as an artist. But I had to face rejection even from my colleagues because of it.

In 1953-54, I went to Europe for the first time. When I met Souza and Raza in Paris, they rejected my work. They said: 8220;You don8217;t know how to hold a brush.8221; Those were the exact words. But it still didn8217;t end our friendship. However, at that time, I was destroyed. It was the only time in my life I lost confidence. I was shaken up completely.

I left Paris and travelled to Switzerland, worked at odd jobs for a while. In Switzerland, I realised that I had to keep doing my art my own way. Artists have to find their own style, they have to be original, only then will people notice you.

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Meeting scientists, economists, musicians, people from every field,taught me to keep breaking my own set of rules by choice, so that I can keep reinvcenting myself through my work.

In Switzerland, my work was recognised. I came back to India, held my first one-man show, which was a great success, and from then on I8217;ve never looked back.

I have travelled extensively since the mid-1950s. In fact, I have often got offers to settle down abroad, but I could never leave India permanently. My work is rooted here, it communicates with the masses here. This is the land that has absorbed people from all religions and cultures for thousands of years, that has been my only influence. But through my travels, I have met scientists, musicians, economists, people from every field. We would have lengthy discussions. These discussions were important to understand the times we were living in. They taught me to keep breaking my own set of rules by choice, so that I can keep reinventing myself through my work. There is no end to knowledge.

When people say that it8217;s a difficult life being an artist, I say it8217;s difficult because you make a choice at the age of seven and dedicate your whole life to it.

Some people say life begins at 40, in my case that is true. Now my children are grown up, I miss them. Till they were 14-15 years old, they would travel with me. I love feasts and clothes. My tastes are simple, I8217;m satisfied with the best.