Celebrating a Life in Art at Santiniketan
- Arundhati Gupta
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
by Arundhati Gupta
“I have developed my own language to express my ideas and themes”— Kiran Dixit Thacker
Kiran Dixit Thacker’s solo exhibition Our Ashram . . . Santiniketan was both a celebration of life in Santiniketan and a powerful articulation of her creative excellence. Held recently, in the first week of March, at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, the exhibition was a delightful showcase encompassing the visual experiences the artist encountered when she migrated from an urban landscape to the resplendent natural settings of Santiniketan. Her body of work includes vignettes of nature typical to this place — Santhals involved in various activities, birds, flowers, palm trees, monkeys, cats, owls, and dogs.
The presentation brought together more than one hundred works, offering viewers an encounter with her sculptures in bronze, mild steel, stone, and wood, alongside her paintings and drawings. Her metal sculptures are truly brilliant, whether in bronze or mild steel. Monkeys with a Child, Woman with her Hens, and the tall date palm trees with three Santhal men sitting under their shade are outstanding sculptural pieces, with marvellous detailing.
The owls, lovers, monkeys, and Bapi’s Wedding Party, done in bronze, are as remarkable as the mild steel sculptures. The body language of the figures on the bus captures their joy with minimal ornamentation. This piece is a fine example of Kiran’s keen observations; it is a typical scene from rural Bengal where members of the borjatris or baratis are often spotted hanging from the door or seated on the roof immersed in the joyous wedding celebrations. Handled with sensitivity, these works offer a glimpse into the heart of the creator, who is gentle and possesses a deep-seated love for animals, flowers, birds, and people. This gentleness is also perceivable in her masterfully crafted wood sculptures of the goat and the monkey.
When asked whether she prefers working with bronze or mild steel, she replied, “Both! But working with bronze has become too expensive for me. Every mistake adds to the expenses. Mild steel gives me the freedom to experiment and make changes. For smaller works, I would still love to continue working with bronze. I have been using direct ‘wax making’ as opposed to casting from clay, which preserves fine details and allows control over the weight — we call it the Somnath Hore method. Working with steel plates requires an armature to stand, and it is difficult to achieve fine details, but it is still a lovely material to work with.”
Even though she says that this is “difficult to achieve while working with steel plates” she has crafted life-sized sculptures, such as the Woman with her Hens where the detailing is mesmerising! Her eyelashes, pouting lips and the plumes of the cocks and hens are intricately crafted.
Her creative energy compels her to look beyond the present despite her frail health. Her indomitable spirit has enabled her to overcome severe challenges, from all of which she has emerged victorious. Kiran completed her diploma in fine arts in 1969 from Santiniketan, and then moved to England, where she lived and taught craft design for over 30 years. She returned to India in 2000, and it was then that her professional career as an artist—more importantly, as a sculptor — took off.
Left to right - The Lovers; The Owl; and The Couple, Bronze
Each of her works is marked by determined lines, revealing a certain stubbornness. “My philosophy of work has been derived from what my gurus taught,” says Kiran. “My guru, Ramkinkar Baij, placed great emphasis on armature. According to him, ‘If the armature is strong, the sculpture will have no problem standing on its own.’ I have used 0.5 mm aluminium rods and 1.0 mm iron rods welded together to create the basic structure, and mild steel sheet metal to form the body of each piece. The body parts are cut and welded onto the structure. I also beat the sheet metal before welding to make it more pliable. This has the additional effect of creating a ‘play of surface light.’” Her journey as an artist was greatly influenced by many of her remarkable and legendary teachers, such as Dhirendra Krishan Deb Barman, Biswajit Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Sushen Ghosh, and Gauri Bhanja.
Kiran enjoys working with mild steel plates, as they are cost-effective and allow for easy corrections without incurring heavy expenses. Speaking about her art, she says, “I am happy with what I create. In my work there is a strong influence of my Indian heritage. My sculptures are guided by my concepts and what I feel will work. I have developed my own language to express my ideas and themes.” She further explains that working with steel plates has its limitations, as it is difficult to create finer details in comparison to other mediums, such as clay or stone. “Therefore, I have devised my own vocabulary to express fine details like eyelashes on female figures.”
Kiran notes that her work is mostly figurative — “all kinds of shapes and forms inspire me.”
Santiniketan and its beautiful surroundings have been both the starting point and a constant reference for almost all her creative activities. “I try to capture the essence of the subject without adding too many frills. Simplicity of form is what attracts me, and that is what I aim to achieve in all my creative outpourings.”
Speaking about the exhibition Our Ashram . . . Santiniketan, Kiran Dixit Thacker states, “I came to Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, when I was seventeen years old and was absolutely enthralled by its natural beauty. There were lotus and lily ponds dotting the campus. The flora and fauna were still undisturbed, and our campus was surrounded by Santhal villages. One could walk for miles without seeing a motor car, a rickshaw, or a truck. We walked barefoot everywhere. The landscape changes with the seasons, and new flowers, different kinds of birds, and a variety of colourful butterflies make it even more attractive. I have been away in foreign lands for 32 years, but my closeness and attachment to Santiniketan have remained deeply embedded within me. I hope viewers see the reflection of this enchantment in my work and enjoy it.”
(All images are courtesy of the artist Kiran Dixit Thacker.)
Arundhati Gupta is a Kolkata-based writer, editor and communications strategist. She has contributed reviews, essays, and features in leading national, regional and online publications. In addition to her writing, she serves on the executive committee of a non-profit organisation. Outside of work, she enjoys playing scrabble and cooking .
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