Ganesh Pyne Ganesh
Pyne was born in Calcutta in 1937. A shy introverted child, Pyne began sketching and
doodling right from his childhood. After finishing school, he joined the Government
College of Art & Craft in Calcutta. In 1959, he received his diploma in drawing and
painting.
In those early years, Pyne was greatly influenced by the brothers
Abanindra nath and Gaganendra nath Tagore. He did water colours. After graduating from art
college, Pyne made a major decision of not going in for a full time job. In the early
'60s, he spent some part of the day sketching for he animated films made at Mandar
Mullick's studio. In 1963, he became a member of the newly-formed Society of Contemporary
Artists. From then on, he regularly participated in the annual exhibition of the society
with three temperas or mixed media till the late '80's. Pyne has seldom held a solo
exhibition because he painted very few works in a year and these he needed to sell in
order to survive. The first on-man show of private sketches 'from his workbook called
Jottings (Preliminary Drawings for Paintings) was mounted by The Village Gallery in New
Delhi. Subsequently, he had many more prestigious group shows. Among them the Paris
Biennale in 1969, contemporary Indian Painting, West Germany in 1970, International
Festival of Paintings in France, 1975, Contemporary Art of Asia, Japan, 1980, Modern
Indian Paintings, U.S.A., Contemporary India Art, UK, Indische Kunst Heute, West Germany,
1982, Visims, Calcutta, 1986. Timeless Art, Bombay, 1989. Pyne has received many awards
and is present in many public and private collections.
From water colour, Pyne turned to gouache and then tempera since the
mid-'60s. It is from this time onwards that his figuration and palette also changed. A
skeletal element was introduced into the figures while animal showed their fangs and
claws. They were portrayed either as predators or victims. Dark shadows dominated his
canvases offset with the use of a golden umber. Certain motifs surfaced repeatedly like
boats, bits of bone, wood and other debris, dark doors and windows, birdman, Chaitanya,
the leader of the Bhakti movements, animals, daggers, and so on. Most canvases reflected
the opposing pulls of death and life eternal. Pyne's varied treatment of the eyes are
worth note.
Pyne lives and works in Calcutta.
