Ganesh Pyne, along with Sunil Das and
Bikash Bhattacharya one of the founders
of the prestigious Society of Contemporary
Artists of Kolkata was for a very time
the most expensive artist of India. He
was born in 1937. Even though Paine had
a very a difficult childhood spent mostly
in poor conditions, he had taken up art
as his profession at a time when artists
were not paid much. In 1955, Ganesh Pyne
joined the Government College of Art &
Craft , Kolkata. Though admission was
tough, Paine not only secured entry into
the college, but also his paintings so
impressed the authorities that he was
admitted straight away into the second
year. It was probably the first feather
in his cap; a sign of what the man was
to offer to the art world in future.
Initially Pyne was influenced rather heavily
by the paintings of Abanindranath Tagore
, which showed their mark in Pyne's early
paintings. Amongst the western painters
Pyne was particularly influenced by Remrandt's
shadow and light fusions. Even today Paine
can be seen to create imagery where shadow
and light seem to create dreamy illusions.
Pyne in his initial days had drawn illustrations
for children's books, painted posters
for Jatra (a local theatre form of Bengal).
But it was much later in the late 1960s
that Ganesh Paine had started emerging
into the Fine Art scene as an important
artist.
Pyne has influenced artists of newer generations
and one can see his influence in the works
of Shyamal Duttaroy, Sanjay Bhattacharya
and most young artists of Calcutta.
Medium and technique of work
Though Ganesh Paine has experimented with
almost all types of medium, it is temprera
paintings that have remained till date
his best. In later days, Paine also made
many paintings in gouache. Today however
a large variety of works in various media
including drawings of diary pages, pastel,
oil and water colour are available in
the market. But nothing ever came as close
to his tempera paintings.
Ganesh Pyne's paintings are often multi-layered.
One can see the lowest layer through the
top layers.
Major themes
Ganesh Pyne is probably the most imaginative
painter alive today. His paintings tell
stories and make the viewer ponder for
a long time. Death has come multiple times
in his works as also the idea of demons,
and myths. His paintings are more surreal
than real.
Rer: www.artofbengal.com/artworks
