Temple murals, proscenium theatre, cinema … non secular calendars that adorn properties throughout the nation are underrated, however have wealthy inventive influences
They’ve by no means held an artwork exhibition, however their footage flip up on partitions frequently — and keep there till the yr ends. These are the nameless calendar artists of Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
Calendar artwork, particularly in southern India, is a style that recasts the outdated ability of temple murals into a brand new mould, aided by methods which might be drawn from proscenium theatre, cinema and British colonial views, with a uniquely Indian sensibility.
From the 18th Century, the printing press and celebrated artists like Raja Ravi Varma have helped to create a mass marketplace for non secular footage, particularly in Hindu iconography. Annual calendars blended the business and non secular facets of the artwork right into a booming trade.
Earlier than computerisation launched automated printing, a whole lot of illustrators used to collect in Sivakasi in direction of the top of the yr to start out drawing what are often called ‘God footage’ in trade parlance, for the next yr’s calendars.
At present, anecdotal proof means that there are solely round eight to 9 artists who concentrate on drawing devotional footage in Tamil Nadu. MetroPlus talks to 3.
Discovering appreciation on-line
At 83, Sivakasi-based S Murugakani’s profession is having fun with a renaissance of kinds through the lockdown. “My grandson, who’s learning Visible Communications in Coimbatore, has been spending lockdown at residence with me. He has been importing my video tutorials on his YouTube channel. The viewer response has been very encouraging,” chuckles Murugakani over the telephone from Sivakasi.
Born in Elayirampannai in Virudhunagar district in 1937, Murugakani migrated to Sivakasi after ending college in 1955 to grasp his ambition of changing into a full-time illustrator. “I used to be lucky to satisfy the famous calendar artist C Kondiah Raju (1898-1972) once I was at school in Kovilpatti. He gifted me a freehand drawing that impressed me to take up artwork professionally,” says Murugakani.
After 11 years as an apprentice to business artist Ravi, Murugakani determined to launch his profession from a home-based studio in 1967.
Apart from calendar work, he’s stored busy with personal artwork commissions from company firms. “Although the topics are all devotional, calendars should current concepts otherwise yearly. I’ve to know what the shopper needs, and draw in keeping with his or her request, whereas staying true to the deity’s iconography,” says Murugakani. Typically, the veteran artist has been taken to historic temples by his purchasers to make sketches of the deities there. “Since images was banned in temples till fairly not too long ago, I used to take paper and pencil colors to make preliminary drawings of the resident deities within the shrines. I might then come again and work on the unique portray for 3 to 4 weeks,” he says.
“Among the many extra memorable of those journeys was the one to the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple of Palani in 1980, the place I used to be proven a number of the uncommon jewels and weapons that adorn Lord Murugan, which I sketched individually. I did a portrait of the lord in Raja Alangaram (royal costume), which was well-received. My work of the Ayyappan Temple have been used for over 40 years,” says Murugakani.
A lot of his work have additionally performed a cameo function in outdated Tamil movies. “I all the time really feel thrilled once I spot my footage in most of the prayer room scenes of films,” he says.
Murugakani stays a fan of poster paints, and sources them regionally. He has retained round 10-20 of work in his private assortment. “A portray attains divine qualities after we paint the deity’s eyes. Till then, it’s only a image. The appreciation I get from the observer is way extra satisfying than any financial acquire,” he says.
S Murugakani’s on-line tutorials could also be seen on YouTube’s All in One Channel
Artwork towards the chances
N T Kannan of Srivilliputhur labored in several fields earlier than changing into a famend illustrator of non secular calendars. Picture: Particular Association/THE HINDU
N Tirupathi Kannan is already in 2022 when he speaks to us over name from Srivilliputhur. “Calendars are prepared for printing no less than six months prematurely, so the lockdown has probably not affected my workload. I’m practically accomplished with the orders for 2022,” says the 52-year-old illustrator who additionally works full-time as an artwork instructor in a authorities college in Srivilliputhur.
Born in 1968 because the youngest of eight youngsters, Kannan was all the time concerned with drawing, however unable to afford the charges for artwork programs.
“I labored as a salesman in a textile showroom and bookstall to make ends meet after ending college,” he says. A kindly instructor, Mr Adinarayanan, noticed him drawing within the bookstore and suggested him to get skilled in order that he might try the Tamil Nadu Authorities’s certificates course for artwork. “He launched me to drawing grasp Mr Karuppaiah, and I began weekly classes. However it was tough to steadiness my job with the courses, so I might find yourself drawing late into the evening on the road after ending my shift on the bookstore,” says Kannan.
He moved on as a painter of metal cabinets and signboards, all of the whereas engaged on his artwork coaching. He developed an curiosity in devotional pictures when apprenticing below knowledgeable artist who used to take him alongside for mural portray assignments in temples.
The turning level got here when he was commissioned as an instance work on an illustration of Lord Vinayaga for {a magazine} introduced out by the directors of Merku Mugha Valampuri Vinayagar Kovil, Srivilliputhur. “Pictures of the deity had been too darkish, so the printer needed a hand-drawn image for the duvet,” says Kannan. “After this mission, I realised that that is what I needed to do for the remainder of my life.”
After passing his artwork certificates course and securing an appointment as a instructor in Srivilliputhur, Kannan determined to commit after-school hours to calendar artwork. “As soon as I began portray, there was no wanting again. I’ve been commissioned works by Tirupati Devasthanam, and temples in Malaysia ,” he says.
He feels calendar artists like him have managed to outlive the march of expertise in artwork, as a result of their ability can’t be replicated by a machine. “A pc will solely have the ability to manipulate already extant pictures. Many publishers really feel that hand-drawn illustrations are extra lifelike than computer-generated pictures, particularly in terms of non secular topics,” he says.
Kannan loves drawing non secular pictures, due to its meditative high quality. “Artwork is a vocation for me, and a technique to join with God. My footage could also be adorning many properties already, however I don’t suppose anybody would know the artist who attracts these footage. It offers that means to all of the struggles that I’ve undergone,” he concludes.
Totally different strokes
It has been a few years since CS Anandan picked up a brush or pencil, however his profession has been outlined by calendar artwork. “I painted my final hand-drawn illustration in 2002, after which I shifted to computer-aided drawing,” says Anandan, who went solo as an illustrator of non secular imagery in Sivakasi in 1971, and at the moment is understood extra for his pc abilities.
“Painters who concentrate on divine or devotional themes are getting more durable to seek out, so those that may be inventive and inventive on the identical time, are extremely valued in calendar manufacturing,” says the 71-year-old. “On the peak of my profession within the early Nineteen Eighties, I had round 9 assistants to assist me with large initiatives. However round 1987, computerisation began making an affect on the printing subject, particularly in business jobs like calendar publishing. Earlier, dad and mom themselves used to convey their youngsters and ask us to coach them to develop into artists, however from 1998, I’ve had no assistants, as a result of this subject is now not thought of worthy of employment,” Anandan says ruefully over the telephone.
Nonetheless hooked up to ‘God footage’, Anandan helps to regulate hand-drawn work into pc frames, moreover creating unique illustrations. “My calendar footage journey everywhere in the nation,” he says. “A lot of my outdated clients are from locations like Delhi, Varanasi, Patna and so forth. They e mail their designs to me, and I polish it up for publishing. Earlier we had been making movies of the ultimate product; now we simply e mail the tender copy, and it’s transferred onto their plates for publishing.”
He’s reluctant to show younger folks today, as a result of he says they have a tendency to favour a extra cartoonish type of drawing. “I’m an old-school artist, skilled in creating lifelike pictures primarily based on the human anatomy. Younger folks don’t have the endurance to be taught an artwork that will not earn them a good-looking pay in the long term,” says Anandan.
After a spot of practically 18 years, Anandan not too long ago drew a sequence of 35 footage on planks of fig wooden for the ‘palaayam pooja’ of the Sri Karguvel Ayyanar Temple in Sivakasi. “I believed it might be tough to attract after such a protracted break, however after the primary two, the images merely composed themselves,” says Ananthan. “It was good to know that my arms hadn’t forgotten their outdated ability.”
C S Anandan of Sivakasi has shifted from guide illustration to computer-aided drawing of non secular calendars. Picture: Particular Association/THE HINDU
