Friday, April 13, 2018

REMEMBERING ARTIST SOM NATH KHOSA

                                                                         
                                       
                                           
 (LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI JI INAUGURATING PAINTING EXHIBITION OF SOM NATH KHOSA IN NEW DELHI.1958.....LEFT TO RIGHT .. INDIRA JI, SHASTRI JI , PREM NATH DAR AND S N KHOSA ...... SH DAR IS EXPLAINING SOMETHING TO SHASTRI JI WHILE SOM NATH KHOSA STANDS CLOSE BY. PHOTO SOURCE JAG PRAKASH )
                                   
                                    (sardar Patel painted by som Nath khosa)
             (GANDHI JI VISITING CALCUTTA JAIL BY SOM NATH KHOSA)

        (GANDHI JI WITH KHAN ABDUL GAFFAR KHAN BY SOM NATH KHOSA)
                    ( GANDHI JI IN CONVERSATION BY SOM NATH KHOSA)


                                                ( GANDHI JI  BY SOM NATH KHOSA )


 SOM NATH  KHOSA ( 1912-1983)

Som Nath khosa was a Lahore based kashmiri speaking Commercial Artist who had come to valley to collect material for writing a book during the troublesome period of partition of the country. This assignment was entrusted to him by the then Punjab University Lahore. His studio cum house was looted and burnt by rioters when he was in Srinagar. He stayed in kashmir for a few years and moved to Delhi permanently in 1950. He belonged to  Syed Ali Akbar locality of srinagar city   and had studied Art  at Sir Amar Singh Technical Institute Srinagar where his teachers included F H Andrews and J C Mukerjee . After completing his course , he went to Lahore sometime  In Kashmir, He got associated with Cultural Congress and headed its Art desk. He was senior to all artists that were visible on the scene at that time. When Gandhi ji died , he prepared a massive portrait of Mahatma that was displayed near Palladium cinema in Lal chowk.The  portrait was drawn by him  hurriedly at night under candle light as the power supply from Mohra power house had not been restored to srinagar city. The power house was damaged by Tribal raiders in October 1947.  Palladium chowk was the centre of all political and cultural activities during those days. Crowds came to pay homage to Gandhi ji at that Chowk . He also did a huge painting depicting Sheikh Mohd Abdullah riding a horse and arriving to dispel pain and suffering. He also put some more Paintings on display on  Palladium cinema building.

                                        
( Paintings of Som Nath Khosa on display on Palladium cinema building, Srinagar)
  
Som Nath Khosa learnt the technique of realistic  oil painting  from some European painters settled in Lahore..For about 25 years, he continued to paint Gandhi ji and events associated with Mahatama .

Prior to 1947, Som Nath Khosa was a successful commercial Artist of Lahore where he was earning good money by painting huge Cinema banners . Staying in kashmir for about 3 or 4 years, khosa finally moved to Delhi . He is best known for drawing portraits of Gandhi ji and other National leaders and most of his work is on display in Institutions connected with Mahatama either in India or abroad.He was highly impressed by Gandhi ji as a person as also with his mission.

  Som Nath Khosa was a close friend of Bakshi Ghulam Mohd  .He was  equally  inspired by poetry of Master Zinda kaul  whom he happened to know very closely . A highly respected Artist , khosa. Passed on his Artistic legacy to his Brilliant son Kashmiri khosa. 

..Kashmiri khosa lives in Delhi and is an artist of National stature .


(Avtar Mota)


PS

For inputs .My special thanks to Padamshri Pran Kishore Kaul. Padamshri Pran Kishore Kaul is a store house of knowledge relating to development of Music, Art , Theatre and Drama in kashmir post 1947. Any story about Development of Drama ,Theatre and Progressive Writers movement in kashmir is incomplete if it does not make clear mention of his contribution.

 Creative Commons License
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.