Memories of Delhi Silpi Chakra
Paramjeet Singh reveals his own journey as part of the Silpi Chakra and hopes that the Chakra could continue with the same zeal and positivity that defined it in the early years.
If we go back to the pages of history, Delhi Silpi Chakra was the demand of the time. No avenues were available to show the artists’ creative works to the public. Artists had to struggle for that and it was not an easy task for the individual artists who were uprooted and shifted to Delhi after partition. All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society was the only platform for artists. Some disgruntled member artists took a stand and started their own group. It was the need of the time that groups promote art in a better organised way. Such groups at Kolkata and Mumbai came into being at the same period. There may be socio-economic pressure that more and more groups came into being in Delhi, just to mention some unknown group, YAL (Young Artists League), Group 8 and Group 1890 were those which made a significant mark on the art scene of Delhi. Every group had its own objectives and promoted their group members as well as projected their creative works in society.
Delhi Silpi Chakra was also one of them which started the trend to promote art and educate public in a big way. Delhi Silpi Chakra was lucky to have its own premises and art gallery. The young members of that time B.C. Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, Kanwal Krishna, Devayani Krishna, K.S. Kulkarni, Satish Gujral, Harkrishan Lall, Ram Kumar, Dinkar Kowshik, Jaya Appaswamy and many more became stalwarts and ideal guides for the younger generation, rather second generation of artists of Delhi.
B. C. Sanyal was the first chairman of Delhi Silpi Chakra but after becoming the principal of Delhi Polytechnic his time was majorly spent in the Delhi Polytechnic. The power was shifted from one hand to another and at times Rameshwar Broota and Shobha Broota were running the show. They requested Jagmohan Chopra to take the charge because they were unable to carry on the activities. He was an old member of the Chakra. His sentiments and the emotional relation made him take it as a challenge to carry on activities in the galleries of the Chakra. This was the time, early seventies, when individualist trends started growing. More and more commercial art galleries started coming up and every young artist hoped to get connected with such an art gallery. Group activities started vanishing from the art scene. Everybody tried to become a self promoter. Existing groups stopped working or slowed down their activities as groups.
My association with Delhi Silpi Chakra started after my completion of studies at the College of Art and joining as lecturer in 1969. Jagmohan Chopra was my teacher and guide. Earlier, I used to visit the gallery of Delhi Silpi Chakra only for exhibitions and poetry recitals.