Bhopal: Looking at the paintings of Sachida Nagdev is nothing less than travelling into the mind and heart of the painter. His drawings and oil paintings in harmonious colors reflect the emotions and feeling of the noted artist, who left for heavenly abode a few months ago.
His brush blends coarseness with delicacy and his observation mingles with creativity to convey a message. Best known for his abstract oil paintings, Nagdev canvasses are lively and vibrant, full of warm colours and vigorous brush strokes. Nature speaks its intensity through his canvas, while some of his works include representational art, including human figures.An exhibition of his works, ‘Beyond the Journey’ which is being held at Avriti Bhavan in Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sanghralaya, brings forth the artist’s own world. There are 78 paintings on display to commemorate his 78th birth anniversary. Nagdev was born in Ujjain on October 25, 1939 and passed away on May 29, this year.
His spirit of inquiry and curiosity about the things he painted, is evident in ‘The Doctor’ and ‘Magic of Music’ that he had portrayed at the age of 13 and 15, respectively.
One of his oil works includes a portrait of his daughter Smita Nagdev playing sitar near a fire place during her visit to Paris. This painting is based on a photograph. He also made portrait of his father and all these works tell a tale of life.
Four oil works on canvas, ‘Kumarasambhava’, ‘Chirst on Straw,’ ‘Destruction of Hope’ and ‘Blind Drummer’, are also on display.
There are eight sketch-pen works in which Nagdev drew Vishwanath temple of Khajuraho, Marburg and open air music and Dusseldore and two oil works on Bhimbetka, ‘Rock Shelter’ and ‘Caveman’.
A wash style work of 1957 in which he painted a beggar begging with his son. Three Gouache works, ‘Old Bhopal’, ‘Kashmiri Flood’ and ‘Bread Seller’, verge on succinct details painted with brevity. You feel as if you were watching Nagdev trying to understand the human mind and human expression.
‘Islam Nagar’ and ‘Gauhar Mahal’ painted in water and oil, respectively, offer an authentic tang of the city. There are some untitled abstract and figurative works in which he used pencil, water colour, oil and acrylic with multiplicity of touches.
Many works of the noted artist, a recipient of Shikhar and Kala Samman, were exhibited in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan and Nepal.
Dwelling upon his works, an art lover Praveen Sharma told Free Press, “If I had to choose a Master to depict Bhopal, I would have chosen Nagdev. Only he could capture the turmoil, the crowd, the beautiful sights of the city and that splendid Upper Lake surrounded by tree-capped hillocks.”
