Portraits in pencil

‘Lateworks’ by Akbar Padamsee are on display at being exhited at Triveni Kala Sangam from 5th February to 18th February

Padma Bhushan, late Akbar Padamsee’s obsession with human figures, and particularly human heads, is showcased at an ongoing exhibition at Triveni gallery. His wife Bhanumati Padamsee has put together paintings made by the artist between 2013 and 2017.

Padamsee started working at the age of 21 and worked for 70 years. Though widely spoken of as a modernist, Padamsee continued to resist being labeled. He worked as a filmmaker, sculptor, photographer, engraver and lithographer.

Bhanumati says she titled the exhibition ‘Lateworks’ because these are drawings he did later in his life, after coming back from the ICU. In 2013, Padamsee had a fall and due to an overdose of anesthesia during the surgery, he was in the ICU for 27 days. Seeing his poor recovery, the doctors suggested he be taken outside to see the sunset and also provided with a pencil and paper so that he could draw.

“In the ICU, he made 2 drawings – one for nurse Lydia and one for Dr. Barwe. Padamsee was on the verge of giving up but the sunset and the drawings brought his fighting spirit back,” says Bhanumati.

Made in water soluble chalk, the exhibition displays a collection of 19 drawings by Padamsee. “Drawing is quick and intimate. These works seem to be falling off the paper”, says Bhanumati. “A confrontation with an illness in an artist’s life may change his work,” she adds.

There is a sense of detachment in the drawings mounted. Most of them are withdrawn and in majority of the faces drawn, the eyes are closed, only few are confrontational.

Bhanumati says she will continue to host these exhibitions for the younger generation to get acquainted with the life and works of Akbar Padamsee. The works are not for sale.