Admn cold-shoulders Sobha Singh
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, November 27
The 117th birth anniversary of legendary artist Sobha Singh is approaching on November 29. However, the artist, who stayed all his life at Andretta in Kangra district since 1952, has been forgotten by the administration.
No function is being organised here on his birth anniversary. Hirday Paul Singh, general secretary of the Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society, said the programme was being organised in Bathinda this year.
“We have been requesting the state government to give due regard to the artist in Andretta, his native village, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears of the Arts and Languages Department of the state,” he said.
Despite the fact that the art gallery attracts thousands of tourists to Kangra every year, the administration has failed to own the legendary artist.
Hirday Paul Singh said they had been writing to the Language Art and Culture Society for doing something for the association. However, every time they had received a non-encouraging reply following which they had stopped writing to them.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was kind enough to visit the gallery of Sobha Singh on a simple letter of invitation. Similarly, previous CM Prem Kumar Dhumal had also announced a Sobha Singh Art Award that was to be given to some artist every year by the government. However, the Art and Culture Society had dumped the idea, he said.
He further said the legendary artist used to work in Lahore in undivided India. After the Partition, he settled in Andretta village in 1952 and stayed here for the rest of his life. Most of his world famous creations were painted here. He also breathed his last here.
“We want the village and area, in which the legendary artist spent a major part of his life, should benefit from his legacy. However, for that department officials should first own the artist as he belonged to Himachal,” he said.
He also said there were offers from Punjab to shift paintings of Sobha Singh to galleries there but they had refused them as Sobha Singh belonged to Andretta.
The old house of Sobha Singh that has now been converted into art gallery by the family displays about 50 original paintings of the legendary artist and other articles associated with him.
