KALASAGARAM RAJAGOPAL.
( MAY 11, 1916 TO MARCH 24, 2012)
SHAPER SHAPED – A JOURNEY INTO A SCULPTOR’S LIFE.
“In Days gone by I used
to be
A potter who would feel,
His fingers mould the
yielding clay
To patterns on his
wheel.
But now, through wisdom
lately won,
That pride has died
away,
I have ceased to be the
potter,
And have learned to be
the clay.”
These famous lines from Harindranath
Chattopadhyaya’s ‘Shaper Shaped’ was Rajagopal’s favourite lines which he used
to recite animatedly with dance and beat just in the same manner as his friend
the poet Harin himself did.
Truly, Rajagopal over time ceased to be the potter and learned to
be the clay.
Like all great people this nonagenarian’s
very life was his message, a very subtle and deep one in that.
Until recently, Kalasagaram
Rajagopal’s graceful saint-like figure, his tall and erect stature and his friendly
countenance was indeed a familiar sight in Mylapore, Chennai, especially around
the Sai Baba Temple and Ramana Kendra area. Appearing quite tall and lean, always clad in
a long handloom spun Kurtha and veshti and often sporting a khadi waistcoat with élan, he instantly
made an unforgettable impression even at first sight. His broad forehead
crowned with sufficient grey hair and his remarkable aquiline nose was handsomely
complimented with square jaws and with one look anybody would almost instantly
classify him as a distinctive individual. Distinctive he was as an artist and
sculptor in his dedication to ‘Life’. His art was an exegesis of his reflection
and engagement with life in all its intricacies.
Even in his mid nineties, with an appearance
that somehow reminded one of J. Krishnamurti, a reference that he took pride
in, one would notice him invariably sharing a friendly note of enquiry with a
vegetable vendor, a cycle-rickshaw puller, a senior passerby, a child, teenager
or a young woman. Often, a car would pull up by his side and people would
alight and greet him and exchange kind enquiries. There were far too many
contacts and generations in his circle of acquaintances for him to keep exact
track of. But what was important was that he was always approachable and
amiable, always sharing a smile, wave or word with anyone who cared to look at
life in the present moment.
Yes, Rajagopal was one of the rare
stalwarts of Art and wisdom that had absolutely no airs about him. He was like
always a whiff of fresh breeze – sure, gentle and soothing. So great was his charisma,
strength and resilience that he could manage ninety six years in times full of
sweeping changes and yet remain himself by retaining his identity with nature,
the natural and his own inimitable love ‘for’ life.
His was not a life of worship but a
worship of life and Beauty, not just in the physical sense but in a truly
aesthetic and spiritual sense. His message through art was an active life of simple
living and simply being.
His Master’s Impact, his Art and his Life
His art spoke tomes of his dedication
to the visual and tactile world of Art and Sculpture, both monumental and
miniature, as well as his engagement with line and contour in pen, pencil or
colour. An ardent student, disciple and assistant of the stalwart sculptor D.P.
Roy Choudhury, he remained, until his last, loyal to his master’s discipline of
artistic language.
Art historically speaking, it was
D.P. Roy Choudhury who ushered in the Modern Indian Art movement in the south
of India. His inspiration was a confluence of the principles of the Royal
School of Art, England, the British schools of Realism and European Masters and
the Bengal schools of Romanticism that he liberally cast upon his students like
Rajagopal. Thus, Rajagopal’s art followed a Realism that blended with his own
inimitable style of Expressionism that borrowed as much from the west as from tribal
and traditional southern Indian art expressions just as almost all exploring artists
of that period had forayed into. While his colleagues and juniors such as
Dhanapal, K.C.S.Paniker, P.L.Narasimhamurti, Srinivasulu, A.P.Santhanaraj,
L.Munuswamy, Sultan Ali etc went on to flag off the historic art movement of Post-Independence Modern Indian art,
Rajagopal sailed on a solitary journey of a lifetime of concentrated engagement
with his central theme and mode for which he took the daring liberty to indulge
in for an enviable seven and a half decades! Keeping away from the Academic art
and exhibition-oriented Gallery art he explored his medium differently as a
pioneer of ‘alternate artistic existence’ proving early that an artist could
choose to free him/herself from the dependence on gallery culture.
While the techniques he imbibed from his
mentor Choudhury breathed strength and character to his works, the
orchestration of theme and composition in traditional Indian art propelled his
creativity. His Western role models were Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Brancusi,
Jacob Epstein, Maillol, Edgar Degas and Renoir. Though that sounds like a full
list only the best aspects of each touched him and left a reminder upon his
work. He always said to aspiring artists – ‘Don’t copy, but be inspired by
someone you can admire’.
As my mentor he made it very clear to
me right in the beginning of my 26 year long association with him that he was
not going to teach, but I was welcome to learn from him if I cared. That, I
consider, was the greatest impetus for me as an artist for if he had taught me
skills or techniques, I would have just learnt them from him, but what he
actually taught made me learn from everything around me. We always discussed
art from the perspective of ideation and perception. Though he was forgivably
averse to ultra-modernism due to his age he was very progressive and radical in
his approach to life.
Simplicity, Honesty and Frugality
His admiration for the life of ‘Man’
was the central theme of his works and into this web he wove all the intricate
details of ‘life’ which he keenly observed by merely living his life as an
alert and attentive admirer of the vast tapestry of Life. Humour and satire
were invariably and most subtly embedded in his expression as it parodied the
paradoxical nature of man’s chase for pleasure. An admirer of Mahatma Gandhi
since times when his Master sculpted statues of the Freedom Movement group and
the briskly walking Gandhiji at the Dandi March, he imbued deep Gandhian values
in terms of simplicity, honesty and frugality. Rajagopal’s expression of richness was his
tremendous output of Rodin or Degas-like spontaneous pieces of bronze Sculpture
and flighty sketches that minutely portrayed the cross-section of creation through
figurative works edging on realism, expressive stylization or cubistic rendering
bordering on abstraction. His honesty was visible in his unabashed expression
of relationships that he instilled in his works, be they man-woman, familial,
social, cultural or even political. His frugality was seen in his choice of living-
standards which he deliberately kept to the minimum and gave no room for
extravagance or artificiality in material or mental expression, even though he
had a distinctive eye for quality in any
form.
Life History
Rajagopal was born at Seergazhi,
Tanjore district, Tamilnadu in 1916 and lived in Chennai with his elder sister
when he was admitted to the Madras School of Arts, in 1932 upon having his
talent for drawing identified. In his very first year at the Art school he was
noticed by the first Indian Principal D.P. Roy Choudhury due to his application
and talent in portrait sculpture. He was taken on to assist this mentor in his
sculptural projects which were more than a handful and was also given a
scholarship from Victoria Technical Institute for his studies, when in those
days art was not considered a profession suitable for a living. However, deeply
inspired and encouraged by his Master, he devoted all his time to sculpture and
imbibed the style and standards of his master whose aim for perfection and
strength of expression is legend. His Master’s works such as in the ‘Triumph of Liberty’
sculptural group brought the eminent personalities in Madras to his studio
seeking more works or wanting to simply watch the master at work. Even after graduation
he was kept for a while longer as studio assistant fine tuning his skills until
after which it was time for Rajagopal to find his own niche in the world of art
and creativity.
Society opened its doors to Rajagopal
in the form of creative minds and expressive friends. His friends were always
writers, poets, thinkers and artistes. A mutual admiration triggered the exchange
of creative fires. This kept the hearth kindled to allow room for a life
partner. Succumbing to his mother’s pressure he started his family on August 28th,
1947 by marrying Kalpakam, a charming young bride of 16 with oratorical skills
hailing from a writer’s family, belonging to Mylapore. The endearing couple became
proud parents of three sons and three daughters, all of significant talent and notable
looks. The economic compulsions of heading a family lead Artist Rajagopal into such
resourceful avenues that instead of dampening
his spirits only fed his creative urge more fuel. He entered the world of Art
Direction through Theatre and migrated to Cinema later on. A pioneer in many an
innovative contraption for stage sets and cycloramas he made the audience sit
up to take a better look. The then emerging ‘Seva-Stage’, led by the well-known
theatre personality of the day S.V.Sahasranamam, came into full lime-light for
firsts in Lighting, Artistic Sets and spectacular Art Direction too, besides
its own merits. Always hogging the lime-light for several consecutive years as
a wizard of stage-craft Rajagopal found free-reign to his aesthetic
sensibilities in theatre which in turn
helped his family ford the times.
His friendship with great
personalities in art, politics, theatre and literature brought about prolific
opportunities for Sculpture. In course of time he handled several sculptural
commissions for portrait busts and life size statues of eminent personalities
like Justice Bell, Sir.C.P.Ramaswamy Aiyer, Justice Sir.S. Varadachariar,
Acharya Kriplani, Sir Sivaswamy Aiyer, Rajaji or C.Rajagopalachariar, Ramana
Maharshi in one period and Nobel
Laureate Dr. S.Chandrashekhar, Prof.S.R.Ranganathan, Singer Ghantasala, Yogi Ram Surat Kumar and so on in another
phase of activity. Always his signature style was sculptural strength, clarity
and perfect understanding of the human form and facial planes that could magically
etch out the essential character of the person portrayed.
Rukmini Devi Arundale, dancer and
founder of Kalakshetra,noticed his talent and invited him to be part of her
emerging institution soon after he was on his own as a sculptor. He was for a
while, therefore, teaching the earliest batch of dance students of Kalakshetra
‘How to See?’ and in the meantime and probably in exchange learnt some dance
enough to participate in some early dance productions of Rukmini Devi besides
contributing creatively to their Sets and Props. It seems most likely that at
this time his contact with the traditional dancers of Kathakali and the martial
arts led him to his life-long passion of oil massage for the upkeep of the
physical body besides Ayurvedic care, backed by simple and healthy habits and food. This seeks emulation
based on the fact that despite a Mitral- valve defect he maintained normalcy of
mind, body and soul until the age of one month short of 96 years which can be
termed ‘Shreyas’ as per our cultural codes of living.
Rukmini Arundale’s association
repeated its tenure in the eighties once again when he was invited to Kalakshetra
to sculpt a series of sculptures of herself and those of Dr.Annie Besant, Dr.
Arundale and Mme. Montessori. This was a peak period in his life when a
full-fledged studio came into being and sculpture oozed out from his very pores
24 x 7. It was a happy period and prodigious work was accomplished for a spell
of almost ten years. It brought him a creative vigour that he could pass on to
his next generation by casting his singular experience into words, creative formulations
and expressions that could be passed on as a legacy to his student, the writer
of this piece.
All this while even when he was in
limelight due to his creative and innovative skills he opted to remain outside
the world of active Art Movement. The reason was that he was content with a
different kind of an art – an art that did not need to enter gallery spaces and
be marked by exhibitions or awards. His art was an item for admiration in the
practical mart of life as against the exclusive gallery of the connoisseur.
Nevertheless, patrons of art sought him from all over the globe and several of his
creative sculptures in bronze or wood were bought up even as they were made by
those who savored and respected the distinctive flavor of his aloofness.
The spiritual wisdom of Rajagopal was
under a veil of simplicity. He appeared pagan even though he was deeply rooted
in the love for Shiva which was one of his favourite subjects for drawing and
sculpture. His spirituality was exemplified by his simple living and worship of
life. Nevertheless from the very beginning his work brought him to great seers
and sages such as the Ramana Maharshi, Paramacharya of Kanchi, Sri Shringeri
Swami, Tiruchy Swamigal, Shantananda Swami of Salem, to name just a few. He
abhorred anything artificial and took pleasure in noticing the smallest things
on life. In his eyes the carpenter, tailor, cobbler and smith were heroes who
contributed their might to the synthesis of life as much as the priest, the
leader and the politician. And the more self-sufficient a person was in terms
of helping oneself learn the skills of active life, the more wholesome was his
existence. He was closer to the self and happiness was natural. His wife
Kalpakam, (who quietly laid aside her own exemplary talents of being an
excellent orator both in Tamil and English after having served the All-India
Radio for a few years as Play-reader to care for their growing family) was once
advised by the Paramacharya of Kanchi
that her spiritual duty and obligation would be to just serve her husband, divinely
gifted that he was. This she did to her very best and old timers would easily
remember the noteworthy graceful couple as they strolled in the Theosophical
Society gardens of Adyar, market place of Mylapore or the holy town of
Tiruvannamalai. They appeared and lived truly like a Rishi couple as all of his
time was dedicated to art and aesthetics and hers to serving him and chanting
or reading out from scriptures or spiritual literature.
Sympathy for the under-privileged was
his second nature. His disgust for man’s employment of animals for recreation
and pleasure was evident while unwittingly we ended upon an elephant at a safari
in Nepal upon a marshy track. It was a full hour of great regret for him and
abundant sympathy for the gentle giant.
His abhorrence for formulas and
excessive verbosity on art kept him on his toes with experimentation. Till his
last he was seeking new expressions through his sculptures. Always meddling
with wax his forefinger and mid finger had bent so acutely as if to become his
tool instead of resisting his demand upon them. His favorite pastime was to
admire his works by keeping them at arm’s length beside some interesting light
source and turn it about to critically evaluate its sculpturesque nature. And
as often as he was pleased he was also dissatisfied and that always led him
back to more wax and more work. His cupboard was full of wood carvings, bronzes
and wax models in various stages of development.
He had a penchant for wood-carving
and I remember how I learnt to observe the nature of wood anywhere and how we
would pick up any piece of wood that would turn into a sculpture sooner or
later under his magical hands. His stress was on the verticality of forms and
based upon their natural grain and formation. Roundness of form and elimination
of details was their hallmark.
His sense of abstraction, influence
of decorative aspects of Indian art, dramatic or theatrical quality of
light and an embedded architectural
flair brought about a monumental quality to all his works whether they were
palm sized or larger than life. The Degas and Renoir in him made him constantly
engage with wax figurines of rotund forms bathing, wiping, nursing, caring or
grooming one another. He would at times play with the allusion of wax to flesh
and heighten that quality in subjects that were erotic or romantic. When it
came to themes like acrobats, yogis, dancers or musing forms his concentration
was almost entirely on the structural aesthetics with spontaneous touches of
wax to heighten the drama. Now and then he would delve into such detail and
decoration that could put any woman to shame for such was his eye for delight
of detail. He could decorate the most insipid of forms and turn them to epic.
The art director peeped out every now and then even though he retired from it
three decades ago.
Always he would lead me to his
cupboard when I met him in his last years and like a ritual we would pick up
almost each and every piece and admire it, gesticulate or articulate about it
and move on to the next piece. He would then draw out his albums or sketches
and we would go through them as he went up and down the alleys of his memory
lane, vivid and fresh that it always was.
Passing away ever so gently at 96,
one year after his wife’s demise, I noticed the saint in him. Aloof and yet in
loving harmony with the present he showed how the natural or sahaja state could be lived out with due
respect to life and nature. He remained straight in posture with his
distinctive physical features still complimenting him before he was offered
back to Nature.
With his departure ends the first
chapter of Contemporary Indian art even as this legend effortlessly spanned for
seven and half artful decades forms and figures cast in admiration for Life.
About the author: Rajny Krishnan, student of Kalasagaram Rajagopal has been with him since
1986 and been assistant in all his sculptural commissions since then. Having
qualified from the Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts and Stella Maris College,
Chennai, she is a freelance artist and sculptor with a spiritual mooring. She
currently teaches Art, Design and Aesthetics to Engineering Design students as
faculty at IIT Madras and IIITDM and visits Stella Maris college for art
workshops.
The artist’s work can be seen at www.rajnykrishnan.com
And reached at
rajnykrishnan@gmail.com
