JJ gets an art transplant
Over 650 paintings and 31 sculptures of illustrious alumni including Gaitonde and Hebbar have found a new life in Sir JJ School of Art’s restoration project.
It’s late Friday afternoon. Thirty-year-old Sudhir Kumar Pradhan attends to a large oil on canvas (of what’s recognised as European replica) at the dean’s studio at the Sir J J School of Art. His colleague from the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Manasmita Pattanaik, painstakingly cleans another oil painting (a scenic landscape). “Both these paintings were brought by the faculty in the 19th century as reference material for the students of the art school,” shares Pradhan, project coordinator at NRLC, who has been working on the project along with a team of 10.
For the last five years, the school has undertaken a project to restore the student works of its illustrious alumni including that of V S Gaitonde, S H Raza, Abalal Rahiman, A A Raiba, M V Dhurandhar, Mohan Samant, Laxman Shreshtha, Laxman Pai, K K Hebbar and F N Souza. Another important painting that has been taken up for restoration is the first replica of the Ajanta paintings by students under the aegis of the then principal, John Griffiths, who spent nearly two decades (1860-1880) studying the paintings in the caves. He returned to create one of the earliest replicas on canvas. Rummaging through the vast collection — the oldest work is an oil on paper created in 1878 by an anonymous artist — Professor Vishwanath Sabale, the present dean of the art school, explains, “Several of these paintings were damaged due to insect attacks. In most cases, the paper had turned yellow and the canvases had become brittle.”
As of today, over 650 paintings and 31 sculptures have been restored and documented. The process has been both long and arduous, but one that Pradhan acknowledges as equally “rewarding”. “There is a great variety of work from oil on canvas to charcoal drawings. Each medium comes with its own challenges. The method that can be used to restore one kind of work might not necessarily work for some other medium. In many cases, we could not understand the signature properly,” he says. Recalling the time when the team discovered an oil painting by Dhurandhar, Pradhan adds, “Few years ago, we were working on a particular portrait which seemed like European replica, but when we cleaned the signature we discovered it was Dhurandhar. We often associate his work with watercolours, but this was a portrait made in oil on canvas. It was a revelation.”
The process of restoration typically entails four key steps — examination of the work, sending a treatment proposal, the conservation process and final documentation. Dr B V Kharbade, director general, NRLC, says, “The process of restoring is technical and requires great expertise. These are precious paintings and the person who is working on the restoration has to ensure that the best method is used without damaging the painting and with minimum intervention.”
The time required to restore each painting, however, differs depending on its condition and size, says Pradhan, leading us to the school’s department of sculpture located on the ground floor, where a rare replica of Michelangelo is housed. Two project interns, Monal Kohad and Haseeb Khan, are cleaning and piecing together statues made of plaster of paris. “We are expected to clean the existing sculpture as much as we can and to mend wherever possible without adding to it or making any changes to the original work,” says Khan.
Currently, the school is in the midst of entering its next phase that will see the restoration of another 1,000 paintings. Plans are underway to create a gallery at the school to display these paintings and sculptures. “Later we would like to turn the dean’s bungalow into J J’s museum, where proper galleries will be built and where we can display the works,” says Sabale. “We have to preserve this great treasure for the coming generations, who can refer to these works as study material to learn the styles, methods and the mediums used by the master artists during their student days.”
It’s late Friday afternoon. Thirty-year-old Sudhir Kumar Pradhan attends to a large oil on canvas (of what’s recognised as European replica) at the dean’s studio at the Sir J J School of Art. His colleague from the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Manasmita Pattanaik, painstakingly cleans another oil painting (a scenic landscape). “Both these paintings were brought by the faculty in the 19th century as reference material for the students of the art school,” shares Pradhan, project coordinator at NRLC, who has been working on the project along with a team of 10.
For the last five years, the school has undertaken a project to restore the student works of its illustrious alumni including that of V S Gaitonde, S H Raza, Abalal Rahiman, A A Raiba, M V Dhurandhar, Mohan Samant, Laxman Shreshtha, Laxman Pai, K K Hebbar and F N Souza. Another important painting that has been taken up for restoration is the first replica of the Ajanta paintings by students under the aegis of the then principal, John Griffiths, who spent nearly two decades (1860-1880) studying the paintings in the caves. He returned to create one of the earliest replicas on canvas. Rummaging through the vast collection — the oldest work is an oil on paper created in 1878 by an anonymous artist — Professor Vishwanath Sabale, the present dean of the art school, explains, “Several of these paintings were damaged due to insect attacks. In most cases, the paper had turned yellow and the canvases had become brittle.”
Around 2009, a committee drawn from the school’s faculty members was appointed to document the works. After selecting nearly 1,000 important artworks from the collection, the NRLC was narrowed down for the restoration project, which is supported by the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education. They funded the project with Rs 50 lakh. The ministry’s principal secretary, Sanjay Chahande, says, “The government is committed to provide all the monetary aid the institute requires to ensure that more and more work can be restored.”
As of today, over 650 paintings and 31 sculptures have been restored and documented. The process has been both long and arduous, but one that Pradhan acknowledges as equally “rewarding”. “There is a great variety of work from oil on canvas to charcoal drawings. Each medium comes with its own challenges. The method that can be used to restore one kind of work might not necessarily work for some other medium. In many cases, we could not understand the signature properly,” he says. Recalling the time when the team discovered an oil painting by Dhurandhar, Pradhan adds, “Few years ago, we were working on a particular portrait which seemed like European replica, but when we cleaned the signature we discovered it was Dhurandhar. We often associate his work with watercolours, but this was a portrait made in oil on canvas. It was a revelation.”
The process of restoration typically entails four key steps — examination of the work, sending a treatment proposal, the conservation process and final documentation. Dr B V Kharbade, director general, NRLC, says, “The process of restoring is technical and requires great expertise. These are precious paintings and the person who is working on the restoration has to ensure that the best method is used without damaging the painting and with minimum intervention.”
The time required to restore each painting, however, differs depending on its condition and size, says Pradhan, leading us to the school’s department of sculpture located on the ground floor, where a rare replica of Michelangelo is housed. Two project interns, Monal Kohad and Haseeb Khan, are cleaning and piecing together statues made of plaster of paris. “We are expected to clean the existing sculpture as much as we can and to mend wherever possible without adding to it or making any changes to the original work,” says Khan.
Currently, the school is in the midst of entering its next phase that will see the restoration of another 1,000 paintings. Plans are underway to create a gallery at the school to display these paintings and sculptures. “Later we would like to turn the dean’s bungalow into J J’s museum, where proper galleries will be built and where we can display the works,” says Sabale. “We have to preserve this great treasure for the coming generations, who can refer to these works as study material to learn the styles, methods and the mediums used by the master artists during their student days.”
