ASTITVA CA. 1973 TO 1976: AN EXISTENTIAL QUEST BY ARTISTS FOR ARTISTS

Exhibition Catalogue Cover, Courtesy: Dilip Ranade

The fugacious group formed by the third generation of the Mumbai based modernist painters emerged in the early seventies named Astitva, to solve the sustenance woes of the artists. The article collate the facts and angst of the much spoken but less documented artist's group. 

Prabhakar Barve, Ink on paper, 1975, Courtesy: Bodhana Arts And Research Foundation

Artists are not altruists. They like any other social members struggle to maintain their existence and the artistic endeavours and make a living in the society. Artists aren’t granted a privileged Astitva.

A group of twelve painters emerged that was headed by Prabhakar Barve sometime in 1972, called Astitva. While the term has both semantic as well as practical connotations, the aim was a simple and straightforward one. The memorandum published in the catalogue of first and the only exhibition (group) of Astitva Group makes its purpose clear. The exhibition of the group was held by the Max Muller Bhavan, Mumbai at the formerly Stuttgart Hall, in the fort area on October 9, 1974.

‘ASTITVA' came into existence as a group of twelve artists, in January 1974. The aim of 'Astitva' is to create a situation which allows an artist to paint and to exhibit minus the worry of the financial factors involved. It is noticed that the major difficulty an artist faces today is the element of financial risk involved in exhibiting his works on his own. Hence, it was felt that the group should help the artist by purchasing one painting, valuing up to Rs. 1000 when the artist exhibiting his work experiences a total financial loss. In order to provide funds to purchase such paintings. Each member of the group contributes Rs. 10 per month. Since the inception of 'Astitva’ besides, to give a substantial start to this scheme each member artist has contributed two of his recent paintings to this exhibition. The sale proceeds shall constitute the group's funds, which shall specifically be used to purchase paintings.’

The group managed to help Apolonario D’Souza and few others by purchasing their works from the exhibitions, which are said to have been donated to the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai upon the conclusion of the group.

The number of members was restricted to twelve to be able to manage the operations. 

The first set of artists who formed the group and exhibited were Anandmohan Naik, Bharati Kapadia, Dilip Ranade, G. S. Adivrekar, Gautam Vaghela, Nirupama Karkhanis, Prabhakar Barwe, Prabhakar Kolte, Shobha Godbole, Sukumar Dutta, Thakore Patel, V. K. Wankhede. Other members that replaced some of the original members were Shakuntala Kulkarni and Lalitha Lajmi.

The aim was pertinent as the number of galleries and exhibition spaces were limited during the days lacking a structure to the economy of sustenance. The financial independence was and is crucial for a sustained practice. Many artists loose track with the existential angst. Besides the fundamental aim of supporting the artists, the focus of the group was to meet up and conduct discussions about the current art affairs and exhibitions in the city. The era was influenced by the formalist ideas and it took a hard grip on the minds of several artists in India. Barve was one ardent formalist in his own way with a reference to tantra art. The regular meetups were coordinated by Dilip Ranade through postcards informing the date and place of the gathering. Mostly the meetups took at the Elphinstone canteen, Barve’s studios after the office hours at the Weaver’s Service Center. At some point in time, they started to visit each member’s place so that one gets to see each other’s works and discuss. (It is also said by one of the members that the residence of Anandmohan Naik in Bandra was the main location for the meet-ups.)

Artists photographs in the exhibition catalogue, Courtesy: Dilip Ranade

The group though restricted to twelve members, was flexible to meetups where people like Kavita Sahani, Bhadrakant Zaveri, from theatre background actively contributed to the discussions. Bharti Kapadia cites the role of Bhadrakant Zaveri in starting the group as being pivotal. He is also said to have brought in diverse views regarding the discussions significant to theatre perspective. A foreign artist is reported to have visited once. Nirupama Karkhanis and Shobha Godbole discontinued. With some ideological difference, Prabhakar Kolte is reported to have withdrawn and went on to pursue his practice independently. Kolte perhaps has fond memories of the exchanges and locates Barve as the key of Astitva group. Eventually, Lalitha Lajmi who stayed in Colaba those days joined the group. Later Shakuntala Kulkarni too became a part. The disbanding of the group is said to have happened after a meeting at the residence of Lajmi.  The information incidentally based on the memories of the participants, unfortunately, least of the informal exchanges have been recorded to testify the facts. Even though, these slight memory differences avail scope for analysing the group formation and its modalities.

Bharati Kapadia, Untitled, Ink on Paper, 1972, Courtesy: Bharati Kapadia

Prabhakar Kolte, Watercolour on Post Card, 1976

The conversations that bound the members together revolved around the concepts of formalism. The language of conduct was primarily English and partly Marathi. The topics were usually conducted based upon work(s) of any particular artist or the fundamental elements of a pictorial etc. Barve led the talks and generally his works are said to be the entry for the discussions. The formal elements of space, colour, texture, volume, line, shapes, forms, their interaction on a picture plane, the effects of certain distortions etc. occupied the discussions.

Shakuntala Kulkarni, Untitled, Engraving,

1976, Courtesy: Artist

Shakuntala Kulkarni acknowledges the role of such discussions in a thorough formalist understanding. This has helped her formulate the later works with diverse experiments with the medium and concepts. However, Barve being a strict formalist didn’t respond to her works based on socialist ideas. The artists didn’t refuse the socialist approach but regarded formal aesthetics more than any other values associated with image making. Therefore, artists, Navjot and Altaf couldn’t be part of the Astitva group as they followed Marxist ideology into their practice. One can notice a strong compositional sense adhering to formal aesthetics amongst the group members. Especially Barve, Dilip Ranade, Vasant Vankhede and Gopal Adivrekar. Bharati Kapadia says ‘the confidence to speak up, and put forth your ideas and seeking responses was the key feature of the group’.

Vasant Vankhede with his painting. Courtesy: Bodhana Arts And Research Foundation

The gatherings even planned some experiments for their primary purpose. Postcards were customised with Astitva label. All the artists were expected to paint on the small format of postcards to be sold at an affordable price. It’s not known how many of the members actually responded to the idea, but an example painted by Dilip Ranade is available for the record. Another similar attempt was of much curiosity. All the eleven members were to paint as a response to the twelfth member’s work, but there is no documentation of the same to be discussed. The group also intended to widen the range of interaction with writers and poets. However, this intention doesn’t seem to have worked further as the group disbanded sometime around 1976.

Gopal Adivrekar, Anatomy of Banaras, Oil on canvas, 1970

Courtesy: Ratnadeep Adivrekar

The senior members like Vaghela, Adivrekar, Barve, Vankhede have had almost formed and realised their material, approach and stand towards their works. Adivrekar worked with sand for textures in the painting. Anandmohan worked in watercolour, papier-mâché sculptures painted with enamel paints. Hence the scope of shifts or changes remained mostly with the younger members. It must not be read as rigidity by stages of the practice.

Lalitha Lajmi, Dream of a Mask, Etching, 1975, Courtesy: Artist

The groups’ only exhibition was fairly reviewed in the newspapers appreciating the efforts of the group and highlighting the works of some artists. Two works of each member and comprising of abstraction, semi-abstraction, symbolical paintings and collages made with newspapers and magazine illustrations were displayed in the Astitva show. The Times of India art critic comments of the act being an attempt of financial self-protection than creative contribution, but also appreciated the works of abstractionists in the group. Some of the members simultaneously participated in a group show called ‘Seven Painters’ that had black colour as the common element reflecting the reactions of the artists’ towards the current socio-political atmosphere infected with corruption. Astitva was critiqued to have been lacking a ‘base’ whereas the Seven Painters show was perceived to provide a fascinating study of emotions and reactions to the theme.

After the group disbanded some of the members continued to meet at the Milkbar - a location opposite to the CSMVS (Formerly Prince of Wales Museum) a canteen for the secretariat where they met and discussed till late evening. Prabhakar Barve, Dilip Ranade, Bharati Kapadia and Bhadrakant Zaveri, Vasant Vankhede, Shakuntala and occasionally Lalitha Lajmi met every Friday. The sole purpose was to converse. Akbar Padamsee, Vikram Sethi is reported to have visited the meetups. Eventually, after 1994, Barve’s health declined and the discussions too.

The event of Astitva appears linear to the thought. The proceedings were limited to fewer economic transactions, but the beneficiaries largely profited through the conversations conducted. However, the existential angst of financial security remains classically unanswered. Several artists in the past have attempted to challenge, divulge, and formulate modes of financial backing for the community of artists. Royal patronage and institutional support have partially served to pad the impact. Would have the group continued their exercise; we might probably have had a better system to bank upon, instead of endlessly writing funding, scholarship and residency proposals!

The data for the article has been sourced from conversations with the existing members of the group Dilip Ranade, Bharati Kapadia, Prabhakar Kolte, Lalitha Lajmi, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Anandmohan Naik, a catalogue of the first exhibition, and newspaper articles.