Besides painting, he is also known for his poetry and witticism.
Legendary artist Krishen Khanna who turned 100 on July 5 this year,has cultivated the creative muse for a lifetime and is still going strong as he continues to replenish the treasure of Indian art with his remarkable paintings. He has built a grand repertoire of prominent works. Besides the pursuit of painting with unwavering regularity, Khanna is known to cultivate his love of poetry, capture audience attention with his oratory and leave behind memories with his sharp witticism.
The oft-repeated incident of Khanna’s entry into art has always drawn a chuckle, for it was a historic decision of leaving behind a well-established banking career to embrace the art muse. As the story goes, his associates, Bal Chhabda, V S Gaitonde among others, waited outside the bank gate all geared up to celebrate Khanna’s freedom. Even Raza threw a party in Paris, to mark the occasion! Ever since, Krishen Khanna set foot in the art world, his works have been characterized by a blend of abstractions visibly tailored around figurative elements that whisper silent stories of dire circumstances. His masterpiece depiction of bandsmen draped in their gaudy regalia, of scarlet uniforms, gold epaulettes and brass buttons, playing with all their might for a wedding procession, behind tired and haggard facial expressions spelt out Khanna’s figurative genius at bridging the gap between realism and metaphor. Khanna is a recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990 and the PadmaBhushan in 2011.
Drifting away from this iconic series of ‘Bandwallahs’ are other masterpieces, that jerk memories, such as News of Gandhiji’s Death, where the mood of the nation was pertinently condensed into a lone figure hugging his knees, a downcast look and a palpable unease about the future. It is this ability to capture the palpable mood through a singular form that etches into one’s memory as one gazes at Khanna’s other work, The Last Supper, where Christ seizes to be the alien European and instead, bears a close resemblance to a fakir, a familiar connect for his viewers. Even today, the centenarian finds fresh forms and ideas to capture the mood of social realism and the emotional under layers behind the fine, exterior façade of life. His telltale brush has painted the lives of the ordinary such as the dhaba workers, the tea sellers and the truck drivers, who become conversation markers with his viewers, through his discerning depictions. Even as the art lovers wish the artist may be blessed with many more years of fruitful outpourings, they are drawn to his iconic depictions, such as Nocturne, showing labourers resting beneath a truck, or black truck, and numerous others where his empathetic brush has made art a romantic pursuit of the everyday and ordinary, in ways unmatched and entirely captivating for every viewer and artist.
