“Give me John sir’s realistic paintings any day over those of any other abstract, modern, or landscape painter. To us art students, he was the god of figurative drawing, our inspiration, our role model.” These words were uttered by an art student, as he walked through the posthumous exhibition of artist, John Fernandes’s works, currently on at the Jehangir Art Gallery.
The gallery is choc-a-bloc with art students waiting to catch a glimpse of the work of the great master. “This is a daily occurrence, and at all his shows, art students and art lovers never seem to get enough of John Fernandes,” says his wife, Agnes.
After battling renal failure and undergoing dialysis every alternate day for four years, John finally called it quits on life, most reluctantly. “This time,” he said, in January 2007, “I don’t think I’ll come back home.” John never lost the urge to paint, to the very last. “The last painting he did, I will never exhibit,” says his wife.
His technique is legendary, his repertoire, as large as his heart. Pencil, watercolours, conte, charcoal and oils were the media he used in his landscapes, figure studies, and portraits. To the female figure he brought sensuality. The caressing drapery, its translucence, the movement of the body, the definite and defining strokes of light, the control of mass and light and shade, the depth, are what make a John Fernandes nude study stand out.
An ardent student of the late KB Kulkarni, his most satisfying moments would be a fruitful conversation with the celebrated professor and painter. Fernandes would always tell his students, “If you want to be something in life, always paint from life.”
At every exhibition, he would give a live demonstration, painting from real models, while his students, art lovers, gallerists, and art aficionados would stay rooted to the spot. He once said, “I’m still learning, I’ve yet to do a lot,” this, after more than 25 years of painting. Humility was his virtue, his patience, his reward.
There are 60 paintings on view at the exhibition, many that are being shown for the first time.
Art student, Gauri Vora, says, “I feel his work is excellent. Much better than that of MF Husain, or Picasso. India has lost one of her best artists, I wish he was with us for a long time. Students would have benefited the most.”
His wife Agnes, who organised the exhibition, said, “His passion for painting was so great that he wouldn’t eat, drink or sleep. I see him in his paintings, I don’t feel he has gone at all.”
It is comforting to know that in today’s jet-setting, Internet-driven world, John Fernandes rides like a colossus. His following is legion, and each student that aspires to his mastery is his legacy.
d_francis@dnaindia.netThe exhibition is being held at the Hirji Jehangir Art Gallery till December 12.
