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Racing
Against
Time
 But the
irony of history is such that when there was
relative calm in 1957 and King Mahendra instituted
the Royal Nepal Academy as the upholder and
custodian of Art, Culture and Literature of the
country, someone who had never stepped inside the
country earlier was chosen to ‘represent art’ of
Nepal. For sure, Lain Singh Bangdel – the new member
- was born, brought up, and was working in a place
other than Nepal. All the local rightful claimants
(aspirants) for the post then who had struggled so
long and so hard to lay the very genesis of the
Western style of painting in Nepal and were
responsible for the achievements so far, including
Tej Bahadur Chitrakar, were ignominiously ignored.
Only King Mahendra knew the reasons. And above all,
without prejudice it should be read in the context
that in 1924 when Lain Singh was still a toddler,
Tej Bahadur and Chandra Man Maskey were painting
portraits from life in the Government School of
Arts, Calcutta – the same institution Bangdel
himself got enrolled into some twenty years later.’
So writes Madan Chitrakar in his book ‘Tej Bahadur
Chitrakar – Icon of a Transition’, published in
2004. It can be presumed that this book was one way
for the son, Madan Chitrakar, to redeem his father’s
indignity suffered in his lifetime due to the
erstwhile king’s perceptibly misguided action. This
was only natural, one must say, because it is clear
that Madan idolizes his late father, the great
artist Tej Bahadur, and actually, Madan is right –
it must have been a belittling experience for so
accomplished an artist. And how accomplished he was,
was very much evident from his classy paintings
displayed during the exhibition, ‘Images of a
Lifetime – A Historical Perspective’ at the
Siddhartha Art Gallery in November / December 2005.
Madan Chitrakar, the son, is no less accomplished
himself. As an artist, he is very much at the centre
of today’s Nepalese art world. As an art writer, he
is one of the few such entities giving impetus to
Nepalese art through the medium of words that are
wise, knowledgeable and discerning. He is proud of
having written the book on his father and his, he
says, was one of the many positive results arising
out of his ‘second coming’. In 1999, on the verge of
reaching the golden median in his life, and after
having worked in a cushy job at the Ministry of
Tourism for almost twenty years, Madan quit his job
– a job that most would have given their eyeteeth to
retain. “I was chastised roundly by many well
wishers for leaving a position that allowed me many
benefits, including, traveling around the world at
least a couple of times every year,” he remembers.
“But the realization had already struck that I was
nearing fifty, and that I had precious little
productive time in which to attain my goals in the
fields of painting and art literature, both of which
I regard as my first calling. Immediately after I
retired from my job, I sat down to seriously writing
a book about my father.”
It was not that, before, he had stopped altogether
the pursuit of his deep interests but still, Madan
admits to being held bondage by the more humdrum
part of his life. His words further emphasize this
point. He says, “I felt liberated after quitting my
work.” But, even to a lay observer, it is apparent
that the artist is still not quite as liberated as
he must be to reach the high plateau he seeks in his
artistic endeavours. At least not when one realizes
that he is as busy as ever – this time, as visiting
faculty of three art colleges – Lalitkala, Shrijana
and the Art and Design Department of Kathmandu
University. It is of course an expected outcome in
the sequence of events since he also holds a
Master’s in Art History from Tribhuvan University.
Nevertheless, he does confess to the situation being
a bit of a bother and discloses that he is giving
some thought to the matter. At the same time, Madan
sounds delighted when he says, “I teach graphic
design in Kathmandu University and the very first
batch of graphic designers from Nepal will be
passing out shortly.” His elation is justified
because he himself majored in Applied Arts while
doing his five year course at the J J School of Arts
in Mumbai.
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