Chamba artist creates paintings for Ujjain museum
Laments lack of patronage to Kangra miniature paintings from Himachal government
“It was a matter of respect for me that the Madhaya Pradesh government has commissioned me to create Guler style paintings. However, the assignment also saddens me over the fact that in Himachal no bureaucrat or politician was concerned about preserving the glorious heritage of Kangra paintings”. Vijay Sharma, Padma Shree awardee
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, December 27
Guler art paintings would find a place in Triveni museum in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The government of Madhya Pradesh has hired the services of Chamba based artist Vijay Sharma to make 250 Guler style paintings for Triveni museum.
While talking to The Tribune, Vijay Sharma, famous Kangra art painting expert, who had also been awarded Padma Shree award, for his skill, said that he has already created 50 paintings for Ujjain museum and would be delivering 250 paintings in the next one year.
Detailing about the painting he was creating for Ujjain museum, Vijay Sharma said, “I have used Guler style of Kangra painting to create various Lord Vishnu avatar stories. Many paintings have been created to depict mythical stories of Bhagat Puran”.
“I went through the ancient textures of Bhagwat Puran to conceptualize many of the paintings being created. Some of the paintings that are being created are copies of works of famous Guler painter Manku”, Vijay Sharma said.
“It was a matter of respect for me that the Madhya Pradesh government had commissioned me to create Guler style paintings. However, the assignment also saddens me because in Himachal no bureaucrat or politician was concerned about preserving the glorious heritage of Kangra paintings”, he lamented.
He said that many masterpieces of Kangra paintings were displayed in Lahore art museum before the partition. After the partition the paintings were brought to Shimla and later taken to various places, besides Himachal. Some of these paintings are now displayed in art museums in Chandigarh and Patiala. No one in the Himachal government is interested in bringing back the prestigious culture heritage back to the state, he rued.
He further said that even Kangra art museum that has been named after Kangra art has just 25 pieces of Kangra art displayed in it. No new painting has been added in the museum since 1990. The government should preserve the rich heritage of the state in the form of Kangra style of painting, Vijay Sharma said.
The Kangra style of painting is world famous for miniature art creations.
Earlier the paints created from local resources such as stones and plants found in Kangra valley were used to create Kangra paintings. Gold was also used to create Kangra paintings. However, in the absence of state patronage the finer secrets of Kangra art were dying. It was high time that the state government made efforts to protect the Kangra art heritage, Vijay Sharma said.
