The Economic Times

In Search Of India's Soul

For probably the first time an English artist, whose works hang in several of the world's most prestigious collections, wants to paint in India. In fact he is excited by the prospect, and his enthusiasm is compelling and infectious.

Anthony Christian will be shortly setting up base in India, probably down down South where he will paint the raw essence of a country that captivates him completely. This is his third visit to India. He will be painting what he calls "head studies" from April 20-27 this year in Kodaikanal and Madras.

Each visit has been the culmination of an overpowering, almost haunting spiritual tie with the country. He is the first artist of mind-boggling, international fame who wants to delve into the soul of what he calls an exotic country with deep values and rich as can be felt nowhere else.

Christian's technique falls somewhere between the old masters and the impressionists. He concentrates on minute details and a high finish, or painting techniques which he has painstakingly learnt from the old masters at the National Gallery.

He has a spontaneity which comes from painting rapidly "under a spell". His paintings demand his total involvement in a state of intense excitement. Painting in this state of high stimulation and intensity on to the canvas is the secret behind Christian's incredible work.

With today's abstract art more often than not taking its viewer on an "intellectual trip", Anthony's realism hits you like a jolt - you feel like conversing with his paintings. He paints reality and truth in a unique and direct way, telling it the way it is, without the distortions of the novice. After watching countless self-professed artists, Christian's work comes across like a breath of fresh air.

During his earliest trips to India, Christian lived "under the stars" literally and painted the famous "Hookah Pipe" with a model, a farmer who continued a rally of continuous belching and snoring. He has painted a village kitchen which according to him has "cow-pats" on the walls - ultimately to be used for fuel.

"There is a certain spirituality here that's so untouched, the people can be so starkly simple," says Christian. He would like to paint the Ramayana and Mahabharata in its full glory.

Christian painted several other important works during his trips to India including several "head studies" in Jaipur. He has mastered the turbaned head, depicting burning reality in every face. He exhibited this particular series in London and it was a major success. It was during this trip to India that under the extreme conditions - he became deeply involved with the spiritual side of life.

He painted some of his best works with beaming Indian villagers peering over his shoulder. The only blot in his trip was a severe case of hepatitis! Christian made a second trip to India, under happier circumstances, where he painted his first biblical painting "David and Goliath".

He cannot comprehend the newer trend of offending the canvas with atrocities of the worst kind in the name of art. He is averse to the corruption and the commercialization that has destroyed the meaning of true art.

He is tremendously uneasy about the "going-ons" in the art world. He tries to run away from the "champagne sippers on an opening night"! Surprisingly, with so gifted a hand comes a great reluctance to exhibit. There is an indefatigable wanderlust - a restlessness to free himself from conventional bondage.

Born after the war in 1945, he started copying and painting from his mother's book "The World's Greatest Paintings". By the age of ten he was painting in the National Gallery, he developed an artistic conscience, an "inner voice". He was surrounded by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Rubens.

He painted feverishly at this early age and lived on the streets. He went through a period of frustrations when he was trying to make contacts, sell his work or find commissions. A successful portrait artist for the first 15 years, Christian came to know the rich, the royal and the famous, many of whom he portrayed.

He possesses the extraordinary capacity to create pulsating life and deep emotion in portraits, still lives, nudes, interiors, drapery studies and various other compositions. Right now he would like to capture the core of India's mysticism, capture the Indian way of life and breathe it onto his canvas, like taking moondust and getting it to spread its light.