Upender Ambardar
Name of book : Ratan Parimoo The conductor
A symphony of Expressions and Colours
Author : Chaitya Dhanvi Shah
The book titled “Ratan Parimoo, The Conductor, A Symphony of Expressions and Colours”, written by the eminent art curator and art writer Chaitya Dhanvi Shah;the managing director of the DRSArt company,is priced at Rs. 2,500. The enthralling book (hard cover) having a dazzling and illustrative jacket with glossy smooth feel paper, spans over to 281 pages.
The book,apart from having an attention arresting cover is also packed with sharp & crispvisuals. The book leads us through an illuminating and comprehensive narrative about the achievements and master stroke accomplishments of Dr. Ratan Parimoo, the reputed art historian and painter of India, who is sincerelycommitted to the world of art. Dr. Parimoo besides being an outstanding abstract artist, is also a renowned academician, a celebrated teacher, a prominent author, a distinguished museum director and an art analyst, all rolled in one.
The erstwhile dean and professor of Art history and aesthetics at M.S.University Baroda (Vadodra) and a former director of L.D. Museum, Ahmedabad, is a son of the soil, having been a resident of Purshiyar, HabbaKadal, Srinagar. He is also a holder of the prestigious Rockfeller foundation scholarship on the Buddhist art. He had his initial grooming and training under the famousand one of the founder members of the celebrated Baroda Art Group,Padam Bhushan Sh. Narayan Shridhar Bendre, the first reader and head of the Department of the Painting and Fine Arts of the University.
The book laid out in several and distinct segments, are captioned as Modern and contemporary art, Abstraction, Know Parimoo, Transformation, Conductor, Color field, Childhood – adulthood memories, Parimoo and NainaDalal, Early years of Parimoo as an art student, Abstract expressionism, Genesis, Pioneer of Abstract expressionism, What does a conductor do, NainaDalal – Ratan Parimoo exhibition of paintings, Colour field, Colour types and finally Conductor’sColours.
The preface at the very start of the book makes Parimoo as a bold and innovative painter, who devised his individual approach and art technique at a time where it is was unthinkable to do so.
The rush of the nostalgia and caring touch of his mother and grandmother is quite evident in the subsequent narrative. The demanding conditions of his upbringing and childhood haunts are conveyed with a remarkable clarity. There is no jugglery of words as recollections and associated frosty aspects are brought forth with truthfulness.
The chronicle moving ahead tells the reader about his marriage with NainaDalal in the year 1960, who happened to be his junior in painting, at the university. It was the time when he got selected for the prestigious commonwealth scholarship of the British Government to study in England for three years. Next,Parimoo familiarizes us withhis early days as an art student at the newly established school of Fine Arts, Baroda University under the inspiring guidance of Professor N.S. Bendre. It was here that the virtues of open mindedness, individual creativity and independent thinking were imbibed by him. Under the caption, Parimoo and Art, he makes it abundantly clear that he is wedded to the visual art as a lifetime preoccupation and in no way is an artist for the business. He also spills the beans about his involvement with the abstract and expressionist art field.
Interestingly enough, he discloses that he continues to hold on to the elements of the Indian sensibilities and feelings through the use of styles and colours. He further says that he draws inspiration from his surroundings and landscape.He also makes it known that abstract art is analogous to music as both of them encapsulate a wide range of expressive and creative possibilities. Both of them, as per his opinion, are responsible for stimulating the corresponding emotional response. Parimoo also states that in abstract art, the accompanying visual elements are colours, lines, shapes and volume. Contrasting to it, he opines that the obscure syllabary consists of movement, symmetry, rhythm and gravity. He also divulges that colours and brush strokes have a prominent place in this type of art. It motivates a painter to break away from the usual figure painting, portraits, landscapes and religious cum societal type of art. This forms a part of the narrative under the caption ‘Transformation’.
Revisiting 1950s with Ratan Parimoo comprises another segment of the book which is packed with the images of his early art work dating from 1956 to 1960. These were displayed in exhibitions at museums and art galleries of Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Vadodra. The upcoming pages make us aware of the resulting effect of reading of art history and aesthetic books, which contribute to galvanize one’s creative work. Likewise, his familiarity with the literature genre made him to comprehend the theory and subsequently paint it on the canvas in a practical form. Many of his earlier time paintings are like a sojourn to his motherland Kashmir, for which he has immense emotional and fond recollections. It is amply demonstrated in “Badam Wari”, oil in canvas paintings and his paintings of “Maej Kashmir” series, Kashmiri families in oil painting and Habba Kadal (1958). They evoke idyllic ambience and milieu of 1940s and take the reader into a landscape that is identifiable to them. In the subsequent pages, the reader is also familiarized about the colour types, associated connect with the society at large and their role in making the individual life and society in general, lively, pleasing, high spirited and delightful.
The book rounds off with a bunch of impressive and vibrant images of his artwork. In a plain speak, this is a landmark and immensely readable book packed with extensive information about the art,lifeand achievements of Dr. Ratan Parimoo, the maestro of the abstract art.
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