Profile of a Pioneer : Sarada Ukil

Satyasri Ukil

“New Delhi as I knew in the prepartition days was virtually a desert culturally, though the old walled city of Delhi enjoyed an age old cultural tradition. New Delhi was brand new but culture and its manifestations take breeding time and suitable stimulus. In this uninspiring environment it was a bold effort on the part of late Sarada Ukil, to establish his atelier and teaching workshop at NewDelhi- (the Ukil brothers?) imagination and energy did not rest at that. The Ukils sponsored an adjunct of the School of Art- The All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society,” wrote Prof. B.C. Sanyal. (Roop- Lekha, 1982, p. 64). However, in fairness to the theme of this article I must explain, at the outset, that my aim is neither to resurrect Ukil (my grandfather) nor to provide him a decent burial. While negating both the possibilities, it is intended here to focus on a specific period in New Delhi’s art history, 1920-1940, and the role of a pioneer who intimated the movement.

Incidentally, Delhi was the arena, where in 1902-1903 Abanidranath Tagore had secured his first public appreciation when he was awarded a second prize and a silver medal for his oil painting Last Hours of Shahjaban in the Durbar exhibitions at Qudsia Gardens. (Watt, pp. 458-59) Ukil, an early student of Abanindranath and originally from Bikrampur, Dhaka, had migrated to Delhi in 1918 and subsequently had joined, his friend, Lala Raghubir Singh’s Modern School (Estd. 1920) at 24, Daryaganj as its first art teacher. However, after a year Sarada left the services of Modern School, on certain “ethical grounds” as he put it and had established at his then residence, 287 Esplanade Road, his studio and an art tuition centre for aspiring artists. This was the precursor of what later on came to be known as Ukil’s School of Art (estd. 1926). At Esplanade Road studio he had at least six students. They were: Bhuvan Varma, Souren Sen, Annada Munshi (?), Anukul Banerji, Premoja Choudhury and Anil Roy Choudhury.