Print and Pulp : Haunting Residues

Uma Nair

“What do I paint? Expression of my own self, revolving around the one concept – Wounds. All the wounds and wounded I have seen are engraved on my consciousness. ” – Somnath Hore

Look at any work by Somnath Hore, the grace, the fluid delicacy and the poignancy of minimalist expressionism remain as a reflection that is born of suffering. In varying degrees in Somnath Hore’s sculptures, prints and paintings, besides the haunting sight of an anguished struggle, there is a simultaneous possibility of endurance, in which technicalities lead on to a more forceful statement of sensitive emotive contents, to give us a residual human form that harnesses experience into expression. It is in the placing of the humans that we see a haunting echo; an epic vision of man’s suffering. These rare print and pulp works originate from an important period in Hore’s career. In 1958, Hore came to Delhi to set up the first ever department of printmaking at the Delhi Polytechnic. At this time he began experimenting ‘with intricate compositions, using multi-coloured etchings printed off a single matrix. Delicate yet richly textured, he used colour for the first time in an expressive manner.’