Watching Wounds Through The Hands of a Master

Art & Deal

The mention of Wounds at Akar Prakar brought back lots of memories. Somnath Hore in Shantiniketan was more than an artistic journey, it became the genesis inspiration, and those who were part of this journey recall the distinct and disciplined ways of the master Somanth Hore. Somnath da was a guide who very quietly inculcated the practice of print-making among his students. During my college days in Shantiniketan ,he was the inspiration behind my decision to take up print-making as a specialisation from 3rd year to 5th year .This was the time when he was experimenting a lot with the medium .I got to learn a lot while watching him at work. In those days I was very keenly following his working process without understanding.

Today when I look back ,it seems that he was trying to bring about a very concrete thought process be it in drawings, lithographs ,engravings ,etchings ,paper pulps or sculptures. It was intense passion which was driven by a sense of purpose that he wanted to explore and achieve through the medium of print making. He was a wonderful painter as well. I remember the way he used to guide us to paint portraits in the class. He would use many soft transparent and subtle colours to bring about the texture of the skin and structure of the face of the model. All those memories are very vivid in my mind .He never sat down to teach .We learnt everything watching him at work.