Sunset at Shanti Niketan-Jehangir Art Gallery : Sanjay Bhattacharya

Uma Nair

Imagine standing before canvasses that are bathed in golden, warm sunlight with the setting sun burning in its coppery sheen like Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s narrative in The Ancient Mariner.12 canvasses painted in a monumental fashion, a clear statement of Shantiniketan’s status as one of the most important historical places in West Bengal define Sanjay Bhattacharya’s unveiling at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai after a hiatus of 10 years. “Landscapes that reflect the simplicity and the beauty of Shantiniketan, because I know that in a matter of a few years you won’t find this,” says Sanjay Bhattacharya in a tete e tete at his studio. Limpid landscapes that seem to rewind into the cinematic screen of Satyajit Ray, here are studies that celebrate lush Tropicana and the eastern idea of the waterbodies and flora.

Lotus Pond Lila

In the centrepiece of 3 canvasses, Sanjay gives us the contemplation of the lotus pond , he has reveled in the multi-textured succulent leaves, a pair of beauteous ducks of this scenic setting and the later additions clustered around it, contrasting the smooth tonalities and green ecological moorings characteristic of the untouched rustic rhythms of twilight intonations. The intense sunlight falling in from the top suggests that it is late afternoon; it models the leaves with a soft sfumato and powerful chiaroscuro. Highlights on the ducks swimming in the waters–certainly representative of the density and depth of Dutch Masters —are painted with great precision.