Veering from tradition to carve his own style, Pradip Mukherjee, one of the most famous Phad artists, has won accolades and awards in India and abroad. Subhra Mazumdar delves into the life and art of the acclaimed artist.
Every art aficionado who tracks Phad art would be aware of the impeccable art by Pradip Mukherjee. The artworks of Phad artist Mukherjee is truly an Indian iconic representation. Coupled with his life’s journey, his painterly skills, as also the audience reaction and the official recognition of his efforts, this master has grown over the years to become the darling of art connoisseurs, even while being at home with a rustic audience. Also, with an ever-burgeoning in-crowd of appreciators, among them several hailing from the royalty and many international experts with a yen to spot genuine talent, this gifted art maker has deservedly won over hearts and minds, both at home and abroad. Known for his unique canvases, on prominent mythological treatises and philosophical texts, that are represented in an iconic Phad art tradition, this artist had, quite early in his career, veered from the strict, inheritance-oriented art practices of folk art, to adopt these techniques, as also the subject content, into a style of his own. Thus, it is that despite his core content fashioned in the Phad tradition, he has forged his personal art journey, by casting the same, into a hitherto untried mould.
But all these achievements did not come his way overnight. Being the scion of a reputed family of Jaipur, his late grandfather, Kanti Chanti Mukherjee had been invited by the late Maharaja of Jaipur, H.H. Sawai Ram Singh, to take over the reins of the Prime Ministership of the kingdom. Thus, being born into an environment of luxury, he had spent his childhood quite in the limelight. Today, the Mukherjee clan which had migrated from Bengal, clocks around 80 members, who have been well entrenched into their place of domicile, over the years. But Mukherjee’s father had for some time, nurtured the fond hope that his first-born should learn the ways of his roots and had thus enrolled him for graduate studies at Presidency College, in Kolkata. But this proved to be a futile exercise, as Mukherjee found himself realizing that his calling lay in the direction of Fine Arts instead of a regimen of academic studies.
On his return back, the young Mukherjee had ventured out on his own and taken up piece work art projects, whenever the opportunity arose. It was the urge to paint, rather than working towards a professional commitment that marked his days, when a chance meeting with the then Director, Rajasthan Small Scale Industries, had changed his focus. “Look for your guru,” the official had advised, veering the young Mukherjee on a quest to look for a tutor who could harness his bubbling art excitement into a viable and earnest career option.
“It was an uphill task, searching a guru, particularly when I had approached the state’s renowned Phad master, Shrilal Joshi and requested him to take me under his wing,” recounts Mukherjee. While the traditional Phad maker had condescended to take Mukherjee under his wing, as a serious hobby art maker, Pradip was excited and gladly accepted the opportunity. Thereafter, the next three quarters of the year was spent in learning the rubrics of Phad exposition, as had been the custom in this atelier.
But the restless youth was a learner who was keen to forge an independent path, using the techniques of the tribal tradition, but stamping it with his own trademark.
Lady luck showered her largesse on Mukherjee in a somewhat vicarious manner, as the wife of his guru, Shrilalji, suffered a fracture of the leg and the young apprentice Mukherjee, became her dedicated nurse, till she recovered. The family also had begun to consider him as one of their own and his guru therefore, abandoned the casual instructional approach that he had followed thus far, and began giving lessons in earnest, sharing with Mukherjee the traditional techniques of composition, colour applications, canvas treatment and other nuances, characterizing a genuine Phad painting from the Shrilalji atelier.
But once again, the realization dawned on Mukherjee that he was mastering a craft limiting his abilities. He was becoming adept at producing commendable copies of his learning opportunity, but was not carving out a path of his own making.
Before long, he was headed for Jaipur, to test the waters, so to speak, as an independent art maker, with a penchant for Phad applications, by creating original works. His maiden attempt in this style of workmanship resulted in the young master creating a depiction of the Ramcharit Manas, which was not just a novelty among Phad creators but had also transgressed other categories of execution contained in the rule book. For one, the in-boxed depictions of narrative content, in eight inch to twelve inch frames, was executed in a series of 108 paintings, within the canvas space. This was a unique venture as never had any artist depicted this subject matter in a Phad makeover.
The work soon caught the attention of the Indian press and editors of popular weeklies such as ‘Kadambari’, ‘Saptahik Hindustan’ and ‘Dharm Yug’. The journals published articles and sought interviews with him. A film maker came forward to give his art a visual orientation and an hour-long documentary was the outcome, which was later telecast over the National Channel in a month-long serialized version. Attention soon began to pour in from official quarters as he was granted fellowships by the Ministry, and the then Secretary of Culture Kapila Vatsayayan, took a personal interest in his abilities, later on, even a recognition by the British foundation INLAKS came forward to honour his effort.
But behind all this fanfare and patronage of his art from several sources, the newer approach to an ageold craft form was still limited to an understanding few. Also, a more hands-on- platform, where the art maker could engage on a one-to-one basis with an audience, was lacking. In his own surroundings, the Phad classic was well entrenched and a novel addition, was bound to be acknowledged right away. It was the noted Indian designer and craft patron, Rajeev Sethi, who had taken matters in hand, after he had realized the potential of this gifted art maker. He had accordingly given him a letter of introduction to Dr Jyotindra Jain of the Craft Museum in New Delhi. The latter immediately arranged for Pradip to join the Crafts Museum’s live demonstration resource programme for a month-long stay on the premises and make products in a live demonstration for onlookers and visitors to this crafts bazaar. Soon Mukherjee was a popular art maker among the visitors, seated in his allocated kiosk, working on his artworks, while holding conversations about his work, with the public, the occasional buyers, and officials, all of whom were highly appreciative of his entrepreneurial role in giving Phad a new and wider orientation, even while leaving its techniques unaltered.
It was just a logical step ahead when Mukherjee was handpicked by noted foreign art promoters worldwide, and Mukherjee was given assignments to paint the Prophets of the Old Testament, in his unique style, for a client in France, followed by a depiction of the Imams Hasan and Hussain, as part of an assignment by the Aga Khan Trust. Another notable work from the same period was a depiction of Jayadeva’s ‘Geeta Govinda’, also in his original style, and which is now a part of the IGNCA collection. And on a very personal request, the artist had also made a depiction of the theme for the noted dancer Hema Malini.
Then as these projects required a thorough knowledge of their subject matter, gleaned and researched from academic resources, it was an obvious branching off, when the young painter also disciplined himself into becoming a serious scholar of ancient texts, from around the world. This tendency to authenticate his reproduction on the lines of studied resources made for an unequivocal accuracy in his source base. The artist could eloquently detail every nuance, every incident, he had projected, and thus viewers came away not just with an eyeful of pleasurable experiences, but also a slice of know-how about the heritage on view, from a studied standpoint.
It was therefore no surprise to his coterie of collectors and aficionados when this thinker- painter took up the pen alongside the brush and began penning his findings in books. Till date, this habit of his has resulted in a sizable authorship of 118 books, on the legends, beliefs and writings of seers and thinkers. And if one strikes up a conversation with him today, invariably the trend of the conversation homes on to Lord Hanuman, as he is currently engaged on a Phad-based illustration of Lord Hanuman for a museum collection.
With a number of artworks on Hindu epics to his credit, Mukherjee was excited to change course ever so slightly and undertake a series of biographical illustrations, in the Phad technique, on the 24 Jain Tirthankaras. The works are on large canvas cloth and are strictly according to the Svetambara doctrine. His current assignment has also led him to acquaint himself with the writings of Sikh Gurus, particularly the contents of the Dasam Granth, the revered scripture of Sikhism that details the guidelines of the revered saint Guru Nanak’s teachings as enshrined in the Khalsa.
But despite being faced with a staggering artistic workload, from every conceivable quarter, the artist has never compromised on his habit of first acquainting himself with the subject matter from learned sources, before actually taking up the brush to ideate the same. This sincerity of approach has trickled into his other pursuit, namely the training of the next gen artists in whom he instils the unassailable creed of remaining faithful to the art form, while at the same time, refraining from following its techniques slavishly. Also, in the course of innovation during the painting process, he insists that his team of followers should make academic studies of their painterly subjects, from a number of authorities, so as to bring a studied originality into their practice.
Of the next-gen followers of this diktat, Mukherjee likes to give the honours to Shamsher Khan, who has been under his tutorship for more than two decades. Together the duo of master and learner, have perfected the age-old traditional art and established its context in a viable and workable format to a new reputation, where it has ceased to be just a repetitive depiction of subject matter, or regulated pattern of construction, but has been altered into an intelligence and research based orientation, where the art is intact but its outer raiments of subject matter and canvas adjustments have been transformed in keeping with artistic sensibility and amalgamated with academic euthenics.
Mukherjee’s works encompass a variety of themes and subjects. These include subjects from Hindu mythology like Ramcharitramanas, Geet Govind, Durgā Saptshahti, Bhagvad Gita, and Hanuman Chalisa, Kālidāsa’s works like Kumārasambhava, Abhijñānaśākuntalam, and Meghadūta, as well as themes from Jain and Buddhist mythologies. He has also painted modern subjects like Agyeya’s Sagaramudra. His paintings on Durga Saptashati are displayed at City Palace, Udaipur. Pradip’s works are also displayed alongside M. F. Husain and Manjit Bawa‘s paintings in the VIP lounge at IGI Airport.
