Babu-Bibi and abstract graphics: The two worlds of painter, printmaker Lalu Prasad Shaw

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The kurta-clad spectacled 'Babu' sits with the 'Bibi', intoxicated and enamoured by a glass of wine, a flower and the affectionate company he holds close.

Placed adjacent to the painting by Lalu Prasad Shaw is another portrait more playful in tone but with a similar premise: a bottle of liquor rolls on the floor with an emptied glass next to it as a visibly drunk Babu holds the Bibi in a close embrace.

The two Bengali 'bhadralok' characters, part of Kolkata-based painter and printmaker Shaw's Babu and Bibi series, hang on the walls of Bikaner House here for the ongoing exhibition – “Lalu Prasad Shaw: Early and Recent Works” – by Gallery Art Exposure.

The 85-year-old Shaw is known for his tempera paintings, especially the Babu and Bibi portraits, and printmaking techniques that highlighted his early career.

Over the last six decades, Shaw has worked on graphics, paintings, and sculptures. For his body of work, he has received multiple awards, including the West Bengal State Lalit Kala Academy Award, Birla Academy Award, and the National Award in Graphic Art.

With the minute sartorial details of Bibi and Babu's evidently Bengali attire and the comedic effect they collectively create, the quintessential Shaw leitmotifs in the two paintings project an unmissable satirical tinge for which he has come to be known.

The exhibition is what curator Ina Puri calls a “procession of work that is representative of Shaw's life” from 1970 till 2022.

In curating Shaw's work for the first time for Delhi art lovers, Puri said she has attempted to present “the oeuvre of the artist and printmaker in a holistic and comprehensive manner”.

The curation includes his still-life and figurative paintings that feature Bengali folks from the middle- and upper-middle class: the Babus and Bibis. The calm, composed and smooth lines of his paintings in tempera create a simple and mostly pleasant glimpse of a life observed, and at times, lived.

“The art lovers are usually more appreciative of figurative art, so when they come to see Lalu they expect a certain something in his paintings. But there is an element of the unexpected in Lalu, an element of whimsy,” Puri told PTI.

The exhibition features more of Babu and Bibi in different everyday scenarios. In one, a chappal-wearing Babu is seen holding an umbrella, in another a sari-clad Bibi is cleaning fish.

Whether it is the chappal, the umbrella, the fish, or the plain-striped sari, Shaw's paintings are replete with stereotypical Bengali motifs. The paintings are often inspired by the life around Shaw that he has spent in West Bengal over the last eight decades.

The Babu and Bibi paintings make for only one side of Shaw's work that invokes a flutter of smile here and a thoughtful glance there while raising uncertain questions in the mind of the viewer. The other side of one of the finest artists in the country showcases his complex graphics in abstract forms.

A larger portion of the exhibition showcases Shaw's early works in printmaking in the form of lithography, etching and linocut techniques.

Apart from Shaw's figurative paintings from his Babu and Bibi series and other still-life portraits, the exhibition showcases the artist's striking black and white abstract graphics, which present a more complex side of his artistic expression.

The purpose of the curation, Puri said, is to put forward a body of work that represents Lalu which is inspired by the culture and politics of Kolkata.

“People often connect Lalu only with his Babus and Bibis, but there is a lot of satire in his paintings. Apart from the great sartorial details such as the pallu and the saris, there is great attention given to the humour, the satire of everyday life,” she said.

The bold criss-cross of geometrical lines of his graphics invoke a sense of struggle, political dilemma and a life lived without abundance. Shaw himself had a humble beginning being born in a middle-class family in West Bengal's Suri, a small city in Birbhum district.

“We cannot pin a single meaning to his abstract graphics, it depends on one's own individual interpretation. It speaks to me of his response to what is happening around him. It is a procession of work that brings alive that time of his life when he created a specific work,” Puri explained.

She added that it was crucial to examine the different facets of Shaw's art, beginning from his early academic paintings through to his body of graphics, drawings and tempera.

The exhibition will come to a close on September 25. PTI MAH MIN MIN