Natanam, artist who enthralled several thousand readers of Tamil magazines through his illustrations for humorous short stories, articles and jokes, is no more. Many do not know that he was equally at ease while executing large mural works for educational institutions, hotels and engineering colleges. His work, at the Panduranga Temple in Thennangur and the Govindapuram temple near Kumbakonam, is especially unique. The Krishna Leela piece in the Thennangur temple was gold plated a couple of years ago using the modern technique of fibreglass painting. It is amazing, how he did the intricate mural work in the high ceiling with such precision!
For a humorous story to be enjoyed, Natanam’s illustration was a must. The animation in his strokes would simply evoke laughter and enhance the readability at once. They were lively and added value to the lay-out of the page.
After seeing his work in the Thennangur temple, a silver merchant from Salem approached him to decorate the dome in his residence with murals. A South Indian restaurant owner from California took him all the way to the U.S. to design his shop. The Govindapuram complex was a later addition. Once he used several antique implements such as Ural, Ulakkai, Ammi, Kuzhavi and Muram for a mural at an engineering college in South India!
Natanam enjoyed reading every script before he began the illustrations, owing to his friendship with well known writers of his native Kumbakonam – Janakiraman and Karichan Kunju. His caricatures for Savi’s ‘Characters’ were a fine piece of study and observation of different men and women.
The cover designs with lively illustrations for all the books of Devan and Cho published by Alliance Company were done by Natanam. Week after week, he drew for J.S. Raghavan’s articles for a neighbourhood newspaper published from Anna Nagar. This writer had the privilege of getting all the illustrations done by Natanam for two of his collections of humorous stories, published by Alliance Co. He drew the title piece for the last page of Sakthi Vikatan for a column by VSV which combined mild humour with spirituality.
Although he used his studio mainly for preparing murals for institutions and temples, he also enjoyed doing illustrations for stories in periodicals and especially Deepavali Malars, whatever the pressure. In fact, writer Sujatha made him play the role of Arjun’s father in the film ‘Mudhalvan’, since the character was depicted as an artist. Natanam had did some work for the AVM family as A.V.M. Saravanan was his ardent fan.
Natanam was the first illustrator to be honoured by the Devan Endowments along with writer Sujatha in 1997. He was also honoured by the Appusami Seethapatti Humour Trust. Recently, Developers India honoured him for his contribution to art with the Vibrant Indian Award. After being hospitalised for a week, Natanam breathed his last on the morning of May 24. He was in his early 70s. He is survived by his wife and a daughter. Natanam was a happy-go-lucky man and was always cheerful. Close on the heels of veteran Gopulu’s demise, Natanam’s end has left a void and Tamil journals will miss another wonderful artist and above all, a great humanist and humorist.
