On a mellow Saturday afternoon last weekend,a handful of artists,friends,art lovers,neighbours and admirers gathered at Delhis Lodi Road crematorium to bid 85-year-old Biren De a last farewell. And it was a quiet goodbye,just as the artist passed away,quietly,perhaps in his sleep. The death of the reclusive artist was hardly likely to cause a blip on the radar of the Indian art scene. He was,after all,not part of the hoopla surrounding the art market.
But everyone who was there on that sad occasion knew his significance in the history of modern Indian art. He belonged to that generation of artists who were evolving their own strategies to engage with modernity. Artist A. Ramachandran is of the opinion that he was among the first Indian artists to experiment with introducing indigenous elements in his abstract expression. This was way back in the 1950s. No doubt,De was familiar with the expressions of tantra art. But what spurred his creativity was the purity of forms the phallic,the floral and the circular mandala and bindu which he distilled from Indian aesthetic sensibilities.
The painting Genesis-I in the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) collection is a prime example of the ease with which he projected elements of the sublime and the experienced. He could render the geometry of forms blended with nuances of energy to depict a pulsating tonality. At the same time,his compositions were structurally sound,an important element in abstract art. The NGMA has 17 of his works as part of its permanent collection.
De was a very honest artist who explored the possibilities of abstraction because he felt driven to do so. A reservoir of inner strength guided his brush and life,which he lived on his own terms. When the creative urge weakened,he did not flog his talent to join the bandwagon. The glare of popular attention passed him by and it would only be conjecture to think that he experienced a sense of pique. In any event,towards the latter part of his life,he became somewhat reclusive. And yet,he would always be there at significant openings and memorial meetings to express his solidarity with the artist community.
De was a fine academic painter even before he made his mark as an abstract artist. While he taught at the art department of Delhi Polytechnic,which later became College of Art,Delhi University,he was well-respected as a teacher. Many of his students who are eminent artists today praise his qualities as a teacher copiously. Says Paramjit Singh,well-known as a landscape artist: He was one of the best teachers we had. His wife Arpita Singh,an equally important artist of the country,adds that he would take portrait classes and life study classes. She still recalls the meticulousness with which he taught them the finer points of drawing and light and shade.
From the mid-1970s,De taught at School of Planning and Architecture. He taught at the Art Studio of the institution. Students remember the care he took while teaching them drawing,modelling and so on. Architect A.R. Ramanathan remembers him as a soft-spoken teacher who was very patient with his students and encouraged them in their work. He says that De was always generous with his time,infusing the students with the basics of design which are integral to an architects vision.
With Des death,the era of early Indian abstractions is drawing to a close. Hopefully,a new generation of sensitive art historians will be able to re-contextualise him.
The writer is director,National Gallery of Modern Art,New Delhi,express@expressindia.com
