The forgotten Legends
1st May….
Maharashtra celebrates it as Maharashtra din.
Whole world celebrates it as Labor day….
But there is one more reason why we the Indians , specially the artist community of Maharashtra should celebrate it.... It is a Birth anniversary of a most Respected and great Artist of yesteryears.. Shree Krushnarav Ketkar … ( born on 1st May 1893) Whose enormous contribution to the world of Indian Art should be remembered with due respect and should be written in golden letters.
He was the first Indian artist who became Art master from Sir. J. J. School of Art , Mumbai. He had received the most prestigious MEYO GOLD MEDAL too for his outstanding performance in the School of Art. Coming from a middle class family himself , he was very well aware of the hardships, a common Indian student faced to seek admission in Sir J. J. School of Art of Mumbai , which used to be crowded by Europeans and Persians in those days of British rule. Artist Ketkar could not accept the artistic talent of Indian students getting wasted due to this . He got very much disturbed by this. His concern towards the Indian students motivated him to establish the first ever private Art Institute for the benefit of the Talented Indian Students. Ketkar Art Institute was founded in 1915 in Girgaon , Mumbai. In this institute the admission was was made easy for an Indian student with talent. All the students who could pay the fees and also those who couldn’t. Students with no money to eat and place to live got shelter and food along with the free training in Drawing and painting at Ketkar art Institute.
Many of the famous artists who are known to have a made it big in the world of art were trained from this institute …. Aara, Maali, Adoorkar, Aadaarkar, Dalaal, Deuskar, Aacharekar, Gondhalekar, Thosar, Bhobe, Ahivasi…… are a few names to mention… There are many more artist can be mentioned as the product of Ketkar art institute.
One of these artists Shri M. R. Aacharekar worked as an art Director in R.K.Studios. There The great actor and art lover shri Prithviraj Kapoor used to take lessons of drawing and painting from him. Once there was a musical function at R.K. Studio and shri Aacharekar was obviously invited. Shri Ketkar too was invited, as Shri Ketkar himself was a good musician… ( he was well versed in Hindustani classical music) On reaching the venue Shri Ketkar being his Guru’s Guru , Shri Prithviraj Kapoor said to have thrown himself at the feet of Shri Ketkar….. This was the kind of respect Shri ketkar got from the people who knew how great he was. Artist Ketkar trained his students so well that they became famous in art world…
Artist Ketkar became Master Ketkar and later was fondly referred as Artist Maker…. He literally created Gems of artists in his institute. All of his students cherished his memories with respect and gratitude. For most of them he was an angel who came in their life with the Midas touch and helped them build a golden Currier .
Artist ketkar received many awards and his creative artistic talent got recognition among the art lovers. He had specialized in water color painting and had terrific command over portrait painting. Way back in 1930 a pictorial book on life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was published by shri Bhavanrao Pant, the ruler of the princely state of Aundh . A team of artists was commissioned to make these pictures and artist Ketkar was one of them.
Later another book was published by shri Bhavanrao Pant depicting the art of Ajanta and
Ellora . These were also done by the same team of artists. Artist Ketkar’s works can be seen in the museums at the princely states of Aundh and Vadodara. His paintings have found place in the London art museum and also in Vienna.
Two of his great works … the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Lokmanya Bal gangadhar Tilak are still with Parle Tilak Vidyalaya of Vile Parle. These portraits were displayed in the show called Samakalin ( Contemporary) at Nehru centre art gallery. Even the monograms for the Marathi and English mediums of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya of Vile Parle , too were designed by artist Ketkar.
The art was in his soul… He was a good singer and presented classical music in the concerts. He was a good actor. With his height of 6 ft plus he surely had an impressive personality to act not only on stage but he had an opportunity to play the lead role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in a silent movie called Punyahun Halla directed by Mama Varerkar and Shri Prahlad Keshav Atre.
He had studied religious books and vedas too.
On the occasion of birth centenary of Artist Ketkar , on May 1st 1993, an award to be awarded every year, was declared for the best painting at Bombay art society by his Family..
On this occasion a road in Vile Parle was renamed as Chitrakar Ketkar Marg .
His art legacy has been passed to his daughters…. Shrimati Netra Sathe and Shrimati Nivedita Limaye.
Shrimati Netra sathe studied at Sir. J.J.School of art.. She too had a multifaceted personality .. She was a good painter and learned to paint in Oils and pestals from the art school. Later she developed a medium using polyester resin and started using it in her paintings. She was the first artist to use this material for painting. This medium was later known as cold ceramics… it gave a three dimensional effect to the painting.
Her paintings got recognition world over. Like father she too was fond of portrait painting…. And she made portraits of celebrities like C.D. Deshmukh, Venutai Chavhan to name a few. portraA it of Bhaskarbuva Bakhale made by her can be seen in Kalyan Gayan Samaj at Kalyan . A portrait of Justice Nagendra Singh made by her has found place in Iinternational court of Justice at Hague. This was certainly the jewel in her crown. Like father she too was talented in various fields of art…. Dance, drama and music were her passions. She was a good writer, poetess, an actor . She gave memorable performances in all these fields ….
With over 50 solo painting exhibitions to her credit she was truly a legend like her father. She was married to world famous sculptor Sadashiv Sathe….. A creator of over 100 monumental sculptures in India and abroad.
Artist Ketkar's another artist daughter Shrimati Nivedita Limaye…is Art Master like her father , she taught drawing and painting ….Now settled in USA Nivedita has been pursuing art for over 40 years.
Ketkar art legacy did not end there…. It was passed to the next two generations….
A family of artists…. With 2 great artists whose contributions , so important that cant be ignored. Those who know about the Ketkar art institute or about the artist Ketkar and his art , they are full of respect for him and his family. The artists who got trained under him they do remember him with great respect and gratitude and mention his name in their bio data with pride.Yet there are a few people who claim to be authority in art field and they refuse to accept the greatness of above said legendary artists.
In year 2013 the first ever Art Encyclopedia, on Maharashtra's visual art history since 1765, the Drishya- Kala Khand was published . This 1,200-page tome is a concise account of 305 painters, sculptors, applied artists and cartoonists – famous, forgotten or unacknowledged – who were born in Maharashtra or worked here. The research work for this project was done by a committee under the leadership of Suhas Bahulkar …. An artist from Mumbai….
This artist has his flat in Vile Parle on Chitrakar Ketkar Marg….. Yet he and his team refused to recognize Artist Ketkar and his 2 daughters as artists….
The Encyclopedia of artists... without these 3 names ?…. The irony is the names of the other artists who were trained by Artist Ketkar , were mentioned with the info that they had their education at Ketkar art Institute. Unfortunately none of these artists are available now to speak for him about his greatness as an artist.
Todays world wants evidence….. and the info given above is not considered as evidence by this committee…. What more evidences did this committee need..? The criteria was said to be that Each artist must have 25 years of art practice Shree Ketkar and his daughters Netra Sathe and Nivedita Limaye who practiced art throughout their lives… are not considered qualified enough to be included in the list of artists of Maharashtra.
The question is WHY?
The truth is , this encyclopedia cannot be considered complete without the names mentioned above and should not be considered reliable for the study of art history of Maharashtra. It should not be recommended for the study of Art in India...
These legendary artist do not need the recognition from a fistful of few people who claim to be authority in this field. Their work speaks for them. They will continue to be respected by those who have seen their work. And will be remembered by the art lovers.
Lets remember them with pride and pay homage to these angels who contributed enormously to the world of art without expecting anything in return.
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