Wondrous realm of watercolors

A large cross-section of senior artists from India, including modern masters like MF Husain and other leading names including Akbar Padamsee, KH Ara, Bhupen Khakhar, Laxman Shreshtha, Prabhkar Kolte,Subhash Awchat, Lalitha Lajmi are renowned for their mastery over painting in watercolor. Several others including Papri Bose, Shruti Nelson, Anandmohan Naik and Jehangir Jani are proficient in handling the challenging medium.

It is a difficult medium to work in, yet it’s equally lyrical. Revealing his fascination for it, Akbar Padamsee has once stated about his watercolors on arches paper: "I begin in the presence of a ‘void’; a white sheet of paper and a mind devoid of thoughts. If water is ‘Shakti’ (the feminine form of divine power), and ink is the male counterpoint; the stroke of the brush is the union of the two. With each (stroke) the spaces expand exponentially.

The reverse process starts, at a certain point of infrastructural complexity, silencing the manifested structures in order to release the single unique form that can finally be named; the thought process then starts again, and the ‘void’ gets filled with voices."

This challenging albeit fulfilling medium carries a yielding and sensitive quality that lends to great transparency. Late artist P. A. Dhond was among the most prominent artists who chose the medium of watercolor for his transparent yet fascinating depiction of various moods of nature. What turned the course of his artistic life was seeing Russel Flint’s scintillating seascapes. Subhash Awchat describes watercolors as a very lyrical medium whereas Jehangir Jani is enchanted by is disciplinary demand.

For Prabhkar Kolte, the medium is akin to ‘an extension of my inner being’. He has employed several mediums over a long, illustrious career, but it’s the fluidity in watercolors that lures him the most. He reveals, “It’s more than a medium for me, and helps me best say what’s going on inside me." Of course, even European masters have produced equally exquisite watercolor works.