Shantanu Ukil - Profile of the Painter

It is ideal to write something on Shantanu Ukil and his art recounting the days of early 20th century advent of Bengal School in northern India and the pioneering contribution of Ukil Brothers in making the new capital of modern India a prominent centre of cultural activities during pre and post-independence years. Without these details the narrative would be kind of incomplete.

Beginning of Modern Indian Art in Delhi

Shantanu’s father Sarada Ukil (1889-1940), an early student of Abanindranath and originally from Bikrampur, Dhaka, had migrated to Delhi in 1918. He subsequently joined his friend Lala Raghubir Singh's Modern School (est. 1920), located at 24, Daryaganj, as its first art teacher. Later, at his then residence 287 Esplanade Road in Chandni Chowk, Sarada established his modest studio and an art tuition centre for aspiring youngsters to initiate them into the nationalistic aesthetics of Abanindranath Tagore’s Bengal School.

Historically, this was the first ‘bold effort” to sow the seeds of modern Indian art at an arid geographical location, which was then “virtually a desert culturally”.

Promoting Indian Artists & Craftsmen

The Ukil's School of Art that Sarada established in 1926 had an adjunct, All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS)... which, conceptually, was an ancestor of today’s state-run Lalit Kala Akademi, with constant activities to promote Indian artists and craftsmen with their works. Thus during 1930s, when Shantanu was just a youngster, the Ukil’s household in New Delhi was the hub of important affairs, as far as the art scenario was concerned in the new capital of British-India.

Recounting those days, Dr. M. S. Randhawa, the noted scholar on Indian art wrote:
“Organization of an annual art exhibition in 1930 was his (Sarada Ukil’s – Ed.) next venture".

This art exhibition which is a landmark in the history of promotion of art in New Delhi was opened by the Viceroy Lord Willingdon and was patronized by the Chief Commissioner Sir John Thompson. It was a major venture in popularizing art and 1500 works by over 400 artists from all over India were displayed”. (vide. Roopa Lekha, Vol. L, No.s 1 & 2, 1978-79, p.7).

There was Samarendranath Gupta of Lahore, Asit Kumar Haldar of Lucknow, Sailen Dey of Jaipur, Hemendranath Mazumdar from Patiala and Mukul Dey of Calcutta, amongst many others, who had often frequented the Ukils in New Delhi.

It was also during these years (1936-37) that Barada Ukil, Sarada’s younger brother and Shantanu’s uncle, had promoted Amrita Shergil at one of the AIFACS shows in the hutments adjacent to Connaught Place, subsequent to their trip in southern states of India together. This was much before Shergil came in mutually intimate and appreciative contact with Jawaharlal Nehru. (vide. N. Iqbal Singh, ‘Amrita Sher-Gil’, in Roopa Lekha, vol. LIII, No.s 1&2, 1982, p.58).

Publication of Roopa Lekha

Animal Farm
Acrylic Board
(Click on the image for larger picture)

Meanwhile, another very important step to popularize art was taken by the Ukil brothers. In July 1939, and after the publication of Rupam was discontinued in Calcutta, the AIFACS came out with their bi-annual illustrated art journal Roopa Lekha (Vol. 1, Serial No. 1)...the first ever periodical from northern India entirely devoted to the cause of fine arts. The editorial board consisted of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, James H. Cousins, Ajit Ghose, Karl Khandalavala, G. Venkatachalam and Barada Ukil. The periodical’s cover was designed by Kumudini Devi, Ukil's mother, which carried typical traditional Bengali motifs such as lotus, conch-shell and Goddess Lakshmi's footmarks. Reckoning by any standard this was a very major event in the modern Indian art history...as important as the publication of O. C. Gangooly’s Rupam from Calcutta.

Shantanu Joins his Father’s School

Sarada’s premature death in 1940 was a heavy blow to the Ukil family and their activities. While the joint family had shifted to Calcutta and Varanasi temporarily, the Ukil’s School of Art (later Sarada Ukil School of Art) and AIFACS managed its existence in New Delhi with the active and faithful support of the prominent disciples of Sarada... Anil Roychowdhury, Indu Bhushan Ghosh, Sardar Gurcharan Singh (later on of Delhi Blue Pottery) and Sushil Sarkar.

Shantanu, Sarada’s eldest son and the only one who took to painting according to family tradition, had taken his first lessons in Indian painting from these three disciples of his father on his return to Delhi in 1946. He joined his father’s art school as a student of both Indian and western painting, and was fortunate to train under illustrious Sailoz Mukherjea, who was in the faculty of Sarada Ukil School of Art (erstwhile Ukil’s School of Art) at 66/1 Queensway, New Delhi. From 1946 till 1951 Shantanu remained a student here.

The first major break-through came young Shantanu Ukil’s way when right after the diploma his works were included in the exhibition of Indian art in Japan, which was opened at the Ueno National Museum, Tokyo on July 22, 1952 by Shigeru Yoshida, the then PM of the island nation. In quick succession, his works were also included in one of the biggest Indian art exhibitions that had ever taken place on a foreign land. This was in July-August, 1953.

The Indian art exhibition in Soviet Russia in 1953 was significant for several reasons. Quite unlike the 1946 exposition at South Kensington, London, this exhibition in Russia had included several works by the contemporary young artists of the land in its grand entourage. It was clear that the organisers were keen to revive the Indian art scenario by promoting the younger generation of artists who had fresh and newer outlook. This was important because at that time independent India was just a seven year old nation. Also, if not anything else, this exhibition gave a clear indication of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s foreign policy with its cultural overtone and emulation of Soviet socialism as the desirable form of economy that India could strive for.

Important news coverage of this monumental show came from art critic Shibdas Banerji’s pen in Amrita Bazar Patrika, in July 1953...which is worth more than a passing mention. Read the full report here:

The Indian art exhibition in Soviet Russia was one of the first major events in Shantanu Ukil’s career. His Indian paintings (Bengal School) got international acclaim and found a place in the permanent collection of the famed Hermitage Gallery of Moscow. Back in India, a series of important exhibitions followed, with much appreciation from the press and foreign and Indian art lovers.

In quick succession his works were acquired in the collections of Maharaja of Bikaner, Maharaja of Baroda, Mysore Art Museum, Chandigarh Museum, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Rashtrpati Bhavan between 1951 to 1968.

Meanwhile outside India, apart from Moscow, his paintings were collected in Museum of Finland, Denmark, Cairo, Poland, China, Japan, USA, Italy, Switzerland, Romania and scores of other countries.

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