| Born in 1941
For Manjit Bawa, one of India’s leading painters today, the source of inspiration is his native Punjab - Pahari miniature traditions, folk lore, love songs of Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal, Krishna legends and the mystical poetry of the Sufi mystics like Bula Shah.
Manjit’s approach to both figures and colours is daring. His pastoral landscapes are free from any western influence and bear traces of the Pahari painting tradition. Manjit’s own poetic vision comes into play with his use of colours and forms. His figures are boneless, painted in soft and lighter hues and set against a flat brilliantly coloured background of exquisite tones. Manjit is a master colourist and his colours have a dreamlike quality. The Krishna-like youth with a flute, the enthralled cattle, the cloud-like lion, the moustachio-ed hero and the incandescent vegetation, all coalesce to create an illusion of an Arcadia, where man and beast share a deep affinity and are involved in a ‘choreography’ of small indolent movements.
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