. Expressivecanvas Capturing the '. essenceof Indian .~:; spiritualism, Sarla's ~t painting revolves '.' around myth and scripture; while another exhibition in the Capital showcases art down the centuries SARLA Chandra, a science post-graduate from St John's College, Agra, has been painting for the best part of forty years A dedicated mother of two married daughters, an impeccable housewife and exemplary hostess, Sarla still finds time to internalise and paint extensively, quite as a meditation. With endless energy she has tried her hand at working on metal relief, depicting the Ramayana, us<:d oil, acrylic, foil, paper and canvass to expres.~ her inner workings. Somewhere in her works she manages to capture the essence of Indian spiritualism, the softly iridescent metal foils she tends to use as highlight, effectively translating the essence of Hindu existence, of living life to attain Ananda, the glow of enlightenment at the end of the tunneL Sarla has drawn and painted, varied her scaling as per her needs, revolving round Indian myth and scripture, mterpreting and re-interpreting them as she passes through different phases in her life, styling them on her own experiences of travel and time. Indian in content, her style is her own, traditional fineness in the smaller works, more western 'contemporary' as the scale grows. Always in eamest, always striving to enrich her idiom, the "rtist im presses by her consistency and dedication, guarding her inner spaces to nurture the mystic murmurings of her mind. Her solo show "Golden Thread" opens at the PBC Gallery, Paharpur Business Centre, 21 Nehru Place Greens on the 24th of this month. *** The National Gallery of Modem Art in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, presents Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists, an exhibition of more than ninety paintings and drawings from the V&A 1790 -1927, at National Gallery of Modem Art, Jaipur House, New Delhi from 27 October to 6 December. The exhibition is a collection from London's Victoria and Albert Museum which shows rare and intC?resting watercolours, sketches, aquatints, lithographs and engravings by European artists who visited India between 18h to 20th century. According to Prof Rajeev Lochan, Director, NGMA: ''The first visual representations of India by western artists were of imaginary landscapes and settings. They were based on the ~i!ft1 ' . .. ... .. . .. \00" . ' . . . ; . : . ~ written accounts of travellers to India from across Europe. It was only after professional European artists began to travel to India that they painted, for the first time, scenes based on direct observation. Their passionate interest in this new and exciting land led to the creation of a comprehensive pictorial record of India, in a visual style familiar to western audiences." The exhibition is divided into four sections showcasing the works of various schools of art beginning with a tour of India through dramatic pictures of splendid forts, temples, and palaces. The second section showcases works by amateur artists who were captivated by the landscape a,'id arch;tecturc of ImVa. Many of these amateurs were employees of the East India Company, who painted their personal experiences. The third section is dedicated to romanticised versions of India depicting striking, decorative paintings entirely from the imagination. Perhaps the most striking of such paintings on display are William Carpenter's glowing rendition of the marble "Interior of the Neminath Temple", Dilwara, Mount . Abu. Ancient Observatory by William Simpson, A Hindoo Female of the Konkan by Robert Melville Grindlay and A leopard attacking an antelope by Samuel Howitt are other examples of the romantic school of practice. ,", ,ii;~ The fourth section, based on realism, documents the social life and people engaged in various professions during that time. The charm of the exhibition lies not just in being an invaluable sociological document, but more perhaps as the glimpse it allows into an India that was, centuries ago, its heat and dl!5t, rivers and t~, habit and attire, its vast landscape, and the humble naivete of its people in the face of such enormity. -