Words and Symbols |fine art cbse class 12 |painting cbse class 12
11 Mar 2018
Words and Symbols
K.C.S. Paniker had arrived at his Words and Symbols
series of painting after having been convinced about two things and not one.
The first being the primordial and almost magical quality of calligraphy on
surface, the second was the cultivated quality of linear rhythm which bind the
calligraphic marks into a design. Writing about the genesis of his Words and
Symbols series of paintings, he wrote to the effect that when he was still
engaged in the exploration of calligraphic lines on two-dimensional surface and
building of fluid design with linear rhythm, his attention was drawn to the
linearly rhythmic design formed by Malayalam script-centric penmanship. It was
almost at the same time that he chanced upon some traditional horoscope
scrolls, containing both calligraphic writings and carefully crafted geometric
signs which functioned as symbols. The calligraphic writings, together with
geometrical symbols, sometimes interspersed with linear indicators of figural
images, formed grand dynamic designs of great value, in which all distinctions
between mark making, sign forming, image conceiving and representing tended to
make all divisions between abstraction and empathy irrelevant.
Artist—K.C.S. Paniker (1911-1977 A.D.). He was an artist (painter) who tried
to delineate metaphysical and abstract things in his paintings. He made the
people of the country familiar with metaphysical and spiritual knowledge
through his paintings during the 1960s. This was the time when Indian art and artists were
under the influence of the Western painters. But a few Indian artists including
Paniker were trying to break out of this influence and establish an idiom and
identity of their own. The colours he used in his paintings were bright and
sunny. Paniker moved on to use calligraphy and symbols to project a state of
metaphysical abstraction.
Paniker was born in Coimbatore
and got his education from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Living in natural
environment, he was influenced by colourful landscapes so, he began painting of
landscapes in early life. In 1918, he exhibited his annual show at Madras Fine
Arts Society. He joined the Government School of Arts and Crafts, Chennai
during 1936-40. Since 1941, Paniker has been holding one man shows in Chennai
and Delhi. He founded the Progressive Painters’ Association (P.P.A), in Chennai
in 1944 and in 1954, he got his first international exposure when he held
exhibitions at London and Paris. He joined as a principal of the Government
College of Fine Arts, Chennai, in 1957. In 1966, hefounded the Cholamandal
Artists’ Village, in Chennai, with his students and a few fellow artists. In
1976, he received the highest award of the Lalit Kala Akademi, India’s National
Academy of Art.
1. ‘The painting words and symbols
are based on traditional art but new look appears in it’. Can you explain its
features in modern contemporary framework?
2. Do you think that the artwork of
Paniker as an artist is different?