'Every artist writes or creates because they can't help it’...

The Call of An Artist | Manohar Devadoss

I remember signing off on our last past post here, with the words,

‘When you have an overpowering urge to tell something, just express it!’

‘Jot them down! Put them on canvas! Without bothering about anything else! - like the public man, or cheering crowds!’

This post, in a kutty little way, would then try to elucidate on these lines, by invoking a passionate artist who very fervently and intensely stood by this conviction, evoking the aura of his region with such finesse and flourish!

Art for heart’s sake!!!

Presenting Padma Shri Manohar Devadoss, ladies and gentlemen, and the legend’s delectable drawings from his book titled, Multiple Facets of My Madurai.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of the Father of our Nation, in his admirable foreword to this 2007 - ‘Manohar Devadoss’s ‘ink-painting’ publication, calls it the ‘Manohar-Mahema-Madurai miracle’!

Says Gandhi, in his Foreword to this, his 2007 book (republished in 2019) –

‘Madurai, Manohar and Mahema’ are a threesome miracle. All three lose themselves in each other. All three find themselves in each other. Together they form the subject, the skill and the soul of this book.

Mahema read out to Manohar from books, articles and papers, things about Madurai. And as she did so, Manohar’s own indelible memory of scenes and spaces formed the stunning images that this volume holds.

Manohar’s pen draws with ink, now flowing thick as a tail-brush, and now as thin as an ant’s trail on talc. As his nib moves, slowly, deliberately, cell by cell, point by point, in lines as clean as Euclid’s and as fine as the veins on a peepal leaf, the light and shade of that city’s life arise on the page.

A tilt of the pen here, a pressure on it there, now strong, now slight, a joinery here, an ellipsis there, a smear here, the ponds filled with water, buffalos wallowing, ducks paddling, vendors selling, elephants gamboling and hills sitting in sage reflection. Here is art that makes photography seem ersatz and words a failed exercise in description.

Such is the ‘reality of representment’ that adorns each of the seventy two intricately detailed pen-and-ink drawings. 

An added joy for art lovers is the fact that, each drawing is dated, and is also accompanied by a lovely textual illustration to the left of the page, that adds to the ecstatic feel of each of the drawings!

Moreover, these drawings spread over a lifetime, start with the earliest one that was done in December 1983, to the latest one in July 2010.

A passionate artist, Manohar Devadoss speaks in the preface to this, his book on his artistic call - 

And I’m sure you’re gonna be so moved beyond measure by his great passion and commitment towards this, his artistic call!

Indeed! there’s no stopping you, when there’s a voice nudging you from behind, that says, ‘Just go ahead! Create!’

Says the legend – Padma Shri Manohar Devadoss -

As a teenager, I realized that I had a feel for rural scenes and architectural entities, a good comprehension of perspective and a flair for ink drawings. Over the years, ink-on-paper became my preferred medium, although it is not an easy one.

Tonal differences are created by changing the thicknesses of black lines and by varying the spaces between the lines.

How to distill for instance, the mood and magic of a still fragrant early morning jasmine garden in black ink without the use of color and depict the fine gradation of texture in every surface?

I immensely enjoyed addressing such challenges in my artwork. Fortunately for me, these very challenges became my assets in later years.

My vision declined, my color perception faded and my acuity weakened. But I could still clearly see black and white.

With passing years. I found it harder and harder to draw and I had to spend longer and longer hours at my easel…

However, my motivation to draw and the pleasure I derived from the creative work never declined.

While capturing statuary in ink, my emphasis was on factual precision. So it was with lofty monuments too, but I used my own input in creating the scenes at the ground level, as they really were.

I created the artwork on street houses by drawing upon my knowledge of the structure of such buildings, by poring over disparate visual sources, by sketching existing abodes and by using trigonometry.

As for rural scenes by and large, I carefully composed them based on my deeply engraved memory and our existing rustic landscapes, without compromising authenticity.

This book brings into focus multiple facets of my Madurai. Through its artwork and the text, this portfolio is also an indirect plea for the civic renewal of this town.

My hope is that its citizens will nurture, cherish and preserve its varied, rich Heritage even while looking forward to its assured, vibrant future.

Bespeaks volumes to the ‘rootedness’ of this legend in his own social milieu, his time and his place, and how his Madurai for him becomes a microcosm of the entire world!

How true proves Bella Lewitzky’s renowned line, ‘To move freely you must be deeply rooted’!

Shri Devadoss, Manohar Devadoss is the bestest exemplar to this credo, in his own inimitable ways!

And howww!!!

And now, for a kutty little dash and sprinkle from off his Madurai for us all excerpted from this, his book titled, Multiple Facets of My Madurai!

[Immense appreciation to Aravind Eye Hospitals, Madurai, for having published the seventh edition of this memorable book.]

[And kudos to the JC Art Gallery, Madurai, for making these treasure-troves from off a legend's exquisite evocative sketchings, framed in their collectibles on display for the lay. Double delight when you are informed that, each of the sketchings is embellished with a succinct commentary in the legend's own voice, describing each of his works for us all!]

Indeed, pages from ages past, come alive with such 'reality of representment', in such real 'flesh and blood' in the rich, evocative sketchings of Devadoss, Manohar Devadoss!

[PS: You may want to know about another legend, an exemplary artist and a Professor of English, from Madurai, J Vasanthan, in our 2014-blogpost HERE!]  

Pen-and-ink drawing, completed in June 1986 - represents Meenakshi Kalyanam - Wedding of Meenakshi -carved in high relief on a large, tall stone pillar in Pudu Mandapam (New Hall) built three-and-a-half centuries ago - opposite the east gateway tower of the temple complex. Meenakshi Kalyanam was a favourite theme for sculptors of yore. Similar groupings of these deities can be seen in many other places in and around Madurai.

The culmination of the Chithirai Festival in the triumphant procession - on the morning of the day after the wedding - of the two impressive thers (temple chariots), one for the bride and the other for the bridegroom. The two gargantuan chariots pass through the four Masi Streets.

Among the finest entities within the mahal that is extant today is the Nataka Sala (the Drama Hall), north of the Swarga Vilasam. An arcade runs on all four sides, about eight feet above this depressed rectangular hall. The relatively short columns lining the arcade support a complex of foliated arches, above which are ornate entablatures, high corridors, topped by an arched roof seventy feet above the floor. The entire surface between the arches and the roof is interspersed with yali-like figures.

Gundu Malli (globular jasmine) buds are tight, hardy, fragrant and pearl-like. These buds from Madurai are considered the best, not merely in Tamil Nadu, but in the entire country. Many believe they are among the finest in the world. I have always been fond of jasmine. When i completed this drawing in June 2003,  I experienced a special sense of fulfillment that I had been granted the grace to create such a piece of artwork even with my severely impaired vision.

Approved by Pope Gregory XV, the revitalized Madurai Catholic Mission built St. Mary's, a small church in the early 1840s. Madras, as the state capital of Tamil Nadu, has many churches ranging from the simple to elegant to quaint to the stately. And yet, this huge metropolis, as far as I know, cannot boast of a single significant church having twin spires with a beauty all its own, as St. Mary's Cathedral in Madurai does!

And the legend's specially autographed copy for me!

A million thanks to my little cousin paapa, for getting me a signed copy of Padma Shri Manohar Devadoss's book, and thereby making this post a reality!