Faces aglow with feelings

A girl with necklace (L), Portrait of Tagore

They are all from his imagination although from the term portrait one expects reproductions from real life. In the outset it was the royalty that had portraits done in order to preserve the dynasty. With time, portrait meant any face. Sattar pointed out, "Picasso did portraits where it was difficult to recognise the subject. Archipenco similarly did a sculpture piece named The boxer, and here too the subject could not be distinguished. The artist simply preserved his reaction to the face in canvas or wood."

In his portraiture, the artist tried to capture the social distinctions of the women he painted. Another reason for painting faces was doing a research work on traditional jewellery, which traces ornaments from ancient times, to the Moghul period and later. Along with a book, called Gohona, a number of sketches followed and the exhibit was the outcome of the sketches and washes.

One of the pieces brings in a bride covered with the anchal of a crimson silk sari and decked with many pieces of jewellery, as is the tradition of our well-to-do marriages. Even the modern faces flaunt necklaces and earrings as we see in social gatherings. What is more interesting, perhaps are the tribal women, especially one in which the entire upper part of her body is draped with scintillating beaded jewellery set , in which cowries are to be found too. "The tribal people don't believe in putting their wealth in banks. They convert their wealth into jewellery which they wear all the time," the artist said.

In the many depictions of the Santal, he wants to preserve their uniqueness. "They are getting educated and marrying outside their tribes. I want to preserve their original characteristics, which includes their burnished skin," Sattar said. There is also a depiction of a woman in purdah and she too is draped in exotic stones and beads, despite being covered in a veil. Sattar has done some collage too as the one with the piece of news about Italy's success in the football world cup combined with a portrait.

A variation is the beauty of a Japanese woman with narrow but beautiful eyes. There is also an African face which appears almost like a mask. The artist has also included the fishermen and farmers in his vision. Although the 48 pieces are portraits done by the same artist, yet there is variation in every portrait and the viewer does not confuse one for the other. "I've tried to preserve simplicity in all of them, using only a wash of orange and black sketches," Sattar said.