Portrait master Vamanrao Pandit on the verge of being rediscovered

I am very drawn to portraits and caricatures as interesting genres of art and capturing the “real” person that lives within. I lose no opportunity to get a (preferably) flattering portrait done whenever I can! I have sat on numerous uncomfortable chairs all over the world getting my portrait done by street artists. Many of my very senior and well known artist friends too have drawn me to my utter delight. My dearest buddy cartoonist Sudhir Tailang too drew a caricature of mine that I hated, but then Sudhir used to say that it is difficult to draw beautiful women! I happily took it as a compliment and quietly buried the caricature! Ah the vanity of me!

In this era of selfies and ubiquitous cameras getting a portrait is no big deal. And when candid camera shoots were not the rage, people trooped to studios to get some ridiculously stiff photographs taken and preserved for posterity! Many women will remember how one saree draped photograph was an absolute must-have for purposes of marriage rishtas! In small town it is still de rigor to do it. Thank god I just about escaped it!

The reason for this reverie is an absolute treasure of a publication A Royal Palette on the genius of Vamanrao S Pandit that landed on my desk recently, sent generously by his grandson Jai Bhandarkar, who has put it together on the occasion of an exhibition by the same name. This was also the first portraiture exhibition in India, said Bhandarkar. Vamanrao Pandit has not yet been as celebrated as he deserves to be and this contemporary of Raja Ravi Varma is on the verge of being rediscovered.

For decades these paintings lay in dusty trunks, forgotten, until art connoisseur Bhandarkar opened them. These trunks had traveled with his family over time to three different homes and were shunted, unopened, to an attic. Jai found treasure: some lyrically done landscapes and several gorgeous portraits, showing great finesse and the careful touch of a society portrait painter, well versed in European academic painting. Later Jai discovered that many of the Europeans depicted in these paintings were people of pomp and circumstance, like the painter’s own family in India.

His portraits are firstly beautiful, creating a mood and depicting a particular time in Europe and are done in a distinctive academic style. In his India related work one sees all the pomp and glory of successful rajas: fine raiment, jewels beyond belief and glittering swords, painted meticulously and with great skill. Born to power and glory, somehow dodging British greedy demands, many Indian kings, like the Gaikwads and the Wodeyars, still cared for their subjects and supported education, art and thus, portraitists.

Today Vamanrao S. Pandit is acknowledged as an important painter, an academic realist who painted in the European style prevalent in the early 19 th century. Thanks to Jai’s discovery and later, research, Vamanrao is now counted among the most celebrated late 19th century and early 20th century painters. “How lovely the portraits are, classic, but expressive and evocative – so far removed from our own, somewhat slapdash era – where ugliness is sadly made such a cult,” artist Jehangir Sabavala commented on Vamanrao’s work.

Vamanrao’s story begins in Ahmednagar. He was born in a cultivated and well-educated family. His father, Rao Bahadur Shankarrao Pandit was an eminent Sanskrit scholar, proficient in 18 languages, and the Dewan (Prime Minister) of Porbander, appointed by the Raja for his kingdom. Elegant and handsome himself, Vamanrao was from a philanthropic family and, as a child prodigy, he began drawing and painting early. He seemed to paint as if he always knew how.

Sayajirao Gaikwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, who was to offer support to so many geniuses like Sri Aurobindo and Dr. Ambedkar, encouraged the young Vamanrao to study in London. Pandit’s practical family insisted he study law as well and so he became a lawyer but turned to full time portraiture almost immediately. Vamanrao life’s now lay in Europe after he met the successful painter, Philip De Laszlo.

Laszlo was well-established in Europe as a painter and undoubtedly noted Vamanrao’s talent before taking him on as a pupil. They became friends and soon Laszlo painted a gorgeous picture of Vamanrao dressed as a Maharaja’s son.

In 1907, Vamanrao returned to London and joined The Royal Academy to train with the Italian born John Singer Sargent, the American who became England’s favourite painter in the Edwardian age. He continued learning about depth and tints of complexions and clothes, which really mark his style. His portraits usually show aristocracy laden with rich garments and fine jewelry but the images are refined, never gaudy or vulgar. While there, he painted Lady Nina, Corbet, Baron, Arild Rosencrantz, artist Otto Friedrich, Countess Bective, etc. Some of the European sitters still remain unidentified.

Three years later, having studied painting and after working successfully on many commissioned portraits, Vamanrao returned to India and continued working, mostly on portraits of Indian aristocrats. In India, some of his subjects include Sir Dorab Tata, the very refined, cultivated and of course, wealthy person, Maharani Gayatri Devi’s relatives, Sir Cowasji Jehangir, Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoolah and Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad who ruled Gujarat and was one of the most loved rulers of all time. Sharing a telling nugget Bhandarkar says, “Vamanrao was a meticulous person who maintained a diary and wrote names and fee rates of most of the people he painted. He charged Rs. 25,000 for a full length portrait (8ft x 5ft), which was a princely amount for those times.”

Portrait painters have to both paint what is true and also keep their clients and contemporary society happy. Many portraits show far more than just the person and really, they often create painted history, acting as the chroniclers of a particular time. However, their work is never exact like photographs often are. As Bhandarkar states eloquently, the painter’s prowess lies in showing the features, the mental and moral stature along with his times. Ultimately there has to be that intangible: beauty. What about empathy

The “sitter” collaborates with the artist, bringing a personality, a character that is inspiring along with the ability to reveal himself whereas the artist needs to observe and record the subtle characteristics of a particular subject.

Vamanrao S. Pandit was born in 1882 and died in1941. Today his relatives have created The Bhandarkar Institute which has many, many ancient tomes of Sanskrit and supports scholarly research.

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com Alka Raghuvanshi