What a strong piece, Vivekbaab! Cheers and thanks Abhay
On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 4:53 PM, V M <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/How-the-Goan-lost-his-art-The-Angelo-da-Fonseca-chapter/articleshow/40713597.cms > > Nearly 50 years after his death, the modernist painter Angelo da > Fonseca is finally achieving his rightful place at the pinnacle of > Indian art. The latest issue of Art India magazine—the country's > premier art periodical, edited by Goa's own Abhay Sardesai—has a > monochrome by the artist on its cover, backed by a superb reappraisal > of Fonseca by Rupert Arrowsmith. > > It has been a long road to prominence for Fonseca, who was born on the > Mandovi river island of Santo Estevam in 1902. He dropped out of Grant > Medical College to become an artist, then chose Abanindranath Tagore > in Shantiniketan because he "wanted to become a shishya of the best > Indian artists". Until his death in 1967, he painstakingly created a > magnificent oeuvre of uniquely cross-cultural paintings that are among > the most remarkable contributions to 20th century art from any > painter, anywhere in the world. > > But until 2014, the artist's reputation never caught up to his > achievement. As Arrowsmith notes in 'Portrait of an Eclectic Genius', > "it is very telling that Angelo da Fonseca...has needed to wait until > this year for his first ever inclusion in a survey of the Indian 20th > century icons." > > How did this Goan artist fall out of history? After all he was a > painter with universal appeal, whose star was recognized even in > Shantiniketan. When he left Bengal to return home, Abanindranath > Tagore paid him the highest compliment "you have mastered...art. Go > forth and seek your treasure!" Later, he was patronized by both the > Pope and Veer Savarkar (who once exchanged his snuffbox for a Fonseca > water-colour). > > It was Goa that first let its great son of the soil down, where > Arrowsmith notes "his new-found cosmopolitanism was greeted with > suspicion by a Christian establishment far more conservative than > today," noting that a typical Fonseca painting "shows a sari-clad > Madonna seated in the full padmasana, a key meditation posture both in > yogic Hinduism and in Buddhist practice. She holds not a lily, the > Christian symbol of purity, but a white lotus, the emblem of the Hindu > goddess Lakshmi and of the redemptive Buddhist deity Avalokitesvara." > > Writes Arrowsmith, "given the fraught historical relationship between > Catholic Christianity and other religious traditions in Goa, it is > hardly surprising that the priests felt threatened by such blurring of > iconographic boundaries" because at the time "the norm in painting and > sculpture had settled into a species of European Baroque kitsch". This > still-omnipresent preference by the priests of Goa is described > elsewhere by the polymathic scholar, Jose Pereira as "Saint Sulpice > art," named after the Parisian church, where "the most characteristic > features...were saccharine and mindless expressions, probably intended > to represent religious ecstasy." > > Fonseca was masterfully different, and was not tolerated by the > small-minded religious of Goa. He was hounded out permanently. Though > he soon found solace and sanctuary at the Christa Prema Seva Sangha > monastery/ashram in Pune—the same institution of CF Andrews and > Verrier Elwin, where Gandhi stayed and Savarkar was a mainstay, and > Bakibab Borkar and nationalist priest HO Mascarenhas were a constant > presence alongside their artist friend and countryman—Angelo da > Fonseca never emerged from exile. > > But his paintings survived. Some are scattered in various institutions > and private homes, but the vast majority of Fonseca's life work was > secured and ferociously defended by his fearless wife, Ivy da Fonseca. > > Secure in the conviction that posterity would acknowledge her > husband's worth, she held on despite financial difficulties and > personal setbacks. It must have seemed like a fruitless gamble, but > things started to change when Fonseca's luminous 'Konkani Madonna' was > rescued, literally from a scrap heap, to become centrestage of the > groundbreaking 2007 exhibition 'Aparanta: The Confluence of > Contemporary Art in Goa', curated brilliantly by Ranjit Hoskote (this > writer was also an organizer). > > That re-emergence was accompanied by very high hopes. Ivy made the > monumental gesture of committing the Fonseca archive to Goa, to the > Xavier Centre of Historical Research which assured her that it would > immediately create a permanent museum to the artist. That has not > happened even many years later, the Goan clergy is letting Fonseca > down all over again. > > As Arrowsmith notes with great sorrow "they seldom exhibit [the > paintings], or when they do exhibit them, tend to leave out the most > controversial and interesting paintings in favour of the > Christmas-card like watercolours that the artist churned out at > various times as bread-and-butter commissions. This has led to an > impression of Fonseca among art historians as rather a provincial > figure, of interest probably only to practicing Christians. The > artist's intense interactions with other traditions of sacred art in > India have thus become obscure, and his most experimental and best > work left largely in the dark." >
