The year-long birth centenary celebrations of renowned painter S.M. Pandit will be inaugurated in Kalaburagi city on October 11 by artist S.G. Vasudeo in the presence of Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Karnataka H.M. Mahesharaiah and president of the Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy M.S. Murthy.
Ironically, it is not the State government that is organising the birth centenary of the proud son of Karnataka who brought fame and name to the State with his accomplishments, but some of his admirers, close friends and family members. While the Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy has announced a symbolic function to mark the birth centenary of Dr. Pandit, the State government is silent on the topic.
Born in a poor family, Dr. Pandit learnt the nuances of painting from his earliest teacher Guru Shankar Rao Alandkar, who himself was an artist of international repute. Guru Alandkar sold his gold chain to give money to a 19-year-old Pandit to move to Mumbai in 1935 to pursue his painting career. Incidentally, he had secured a diploma in painting from Madras School of Art before the age of 19.
The former Chairman of Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy Nadoja J.S. Khanderao, who is also the chairman of the organising committee of the birth anniversary celebrations, told presspersons that Dr. Pandit’s stint under G.S. Dandavathimath, art teacher at Nootan Kala Mandir; K.B. Chudekar, art teacher at Sir J.J. School of Art; and M.V. Dhurandhar, headmaster of the School, gave a new dimension to the bubbling talent hidden in Dr. Pandit. He inherited the style of Raja Ravi Varma and used naturalistic techniques to depict scenes from Indian mythology, history and classical literature.
His realistic mythological paintings and calendar art have been collected widely. In these paintings, he emphasised on the physical forms of the heroes, heroines, gods and goddesses in marked contrast to traditional and classical styles of Indian painting. Pandit depicted his subjects as handsome, muscular, valorous men and sensuously beautiful women set in surroundings suggestive of film settings and sceneries.
He began painting mythological subjects in the 1950s, which gave him the much-needed recognition in the world of art. He gave technical innovations to new forms of religious and mythic imagery introduced by Raja Ravi Varma, making it much more realistic and naturalistic. His masterpiece is a life-size portrait of Swami Vivekananda at Kanyakumari, and one of Mahatma Gandhi that adorns the wall of the New Council Hall in Mumbai.
Dr. Pandit was one among the very few Indian artists elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London. During the Festival of India held in London, he painted the portraits of Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, which are on permanent display in the Indian High Commission and Commonwealth Institute in London.
