The World On A Canvas : A Visual Voyage : Paresh Maity
Text by Sharmila Tagore
The World on a Canvas-featuring the artist's drawings, watercolours, oils, mixed media and sculptures drawn from his travels over the years-gives the reader an insight into the mind of one of contemporary India's great artists.
Complementing this visual journey are Nemai Ghosh's arresting portraits of the artist at work. For those who love Paresh Maity's art, or have been observers of Nemai Ghosh's black-and-white photography, it is an extraordinary treat.
Eminent film personality Sharmila Tagore, an admirer of Paresh's art, provides the textual counterpoint to this visual travelogue. She charts Paresh's journey from the small town of Tamluk, where he first realised his true calling as an artist, to Kolkata where he studied art, and from Rajasthan, where his art underwent a tectonic shift, to Venice, which enthralled the colourist in him. Drawing from memory, experiences and incidents gathered from her interactions with the artist, Sharmila presents to the reader aspects of the artist which have hitherto remained unknown. A critical essay by Kishore Singh on Paresh's evolving style, and the maturity with which he handles his materials and subjects, enhances the narrative. A voyage unlike any other, The World on a Canvas is as much about self-discovery as it is about story-telling, and is by far the definitive work on Paresh Maity, the man and the artist.
Sharmila Tagore Born in Kanpur and educated at Loreto House, Kolkata and Asansol, Sharmila Tagore began her career in films with Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar (Bengali, 1959) and has acted in over hundred Bengali and Hindi films. Among a select few actors whose repertoire embraces the best in both art and mainstream Indian cinema, her notable films include Devi (Bengali, 1959), Nirjan Saikate (Bengali, 1963), Anupama (Hindi, 1965), Satyakaam (Hindi, 1966), Aradhana (Hindi 1969), Aranyer Din Raatri (Bengali, 1970), Seemabaddha (Bengali, 1971), Amar Prem (1972), Mausam (Hindi, 1976), New Delhi Times (Hindi, 1986), Mississippi Masala (English, 1988), Abar Aranye (Bengali, 2003), Viruddh (Hindi, 2005) and Antaheen (2009). Apart from three National Awards for her performances in Nirjan Saikate, Mausam and Abar Aranye, she is also the recipient of the Officer de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters), conferred upon her in 1999 by the Ministry of Culture and Communications of the Government of France. She has been, and remains, actively involved in social work both in India and abroad. She is UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador in the cause of HIV / AIDS, works for the corneally challenged at the Venu Eye Institute, and is a Board member of the PSB trust. She is also associated with other socio-cultural and community projects, e.g., Katha, which is involved in grassroots work in education, runs over a hundred schools in slum communities, works with the government to bring the joy of reading to more than 200,000 children, and translates regional literature into English.
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