Reema Desai Gehi: ‘Rudi epitomised the role of a catalyst’

Reema Desai Gehi, the author of a book about Rudolf Von Leyden, the art critic who catalysed Bombay’s Progressive Art Movement, talks about its genesis and journey

Reema Desai Gehi talks about how she was first introduced to the German art critic Rudolf Von Leyden, “Rudi”. She was the special art correspondent at a popular Mumbai tabloid when Sayed Haider Raza, one of the founding members of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) passed away on 23 July 2016 at the age of 94. “Since he was a Bombay man who was part of a seminal art movement, my editor and I thought we should do more than an obituary,” says Reema, who launched her book, The Catalyst: Rudolf Von Leyden and India’s Artistic Awakening, a biography of the seminal art critic at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), last month.  

They decided that an interview with the artist Krishen Khanna, the last surviving member of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, would be a fitting tribute to Raza, “I booked my flight ticket, went to Delhi and spent two or three hours with him,” says Reema. Towards the end of the interview, as she was waiting for her taxi, Krishen Khanna suddenly asked her what the media group she worked with was doing with the writings of Rudi Von Leyden, who was the art critic of one of the group’s other publications. “I looked at him quizzically and said nothing,” she says, recalling how Khanna told her that since she was already sitting in that office, she should do something about it.  

This piqued her curiosity, she says. When she returned to Mumbai, she visited the archive rooms at her office building and began delving into the work of Von Leyden, a Jewish refugee from Germany, who moved here in 1933. “He was supposed to be here for six months, thinking that the situation back home would settle down. But we all know what went down,” says Reema. “And six months became 35 years.” 

Intrigued by what she had discovered in the archives, Reema found herself wanting to know more about the man who Khanna told her was the kingpin of the art world. “That is a very loaded label to put on someone. For the last seven years, I was unravelling who this kingpin was and what made him a kingpin,” she says.  

The extensive research, in turn, led to this book which was published by Speaking Tiger earlier this year. “I was not just interested in his writings,” says Reema, adding that the book is not a critical appraisal of his work, but the retelling of the story of the man who was instrumental in shaping one of the most seminal moments in Indian art history. “There were so many aspects to him. He was a cultured person, interested in poetry, art, theatre, beat music, philanthropy...very much a Renaissance man.’ 

Edited extracts of an interview 

Could you talk about the title, The Catalyst, and how it ties into the larger narrative of the book, especially with respect to Rudi’s contribution to the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group?