Stage to canvas: Rarely seen works on display in the Capital
Few know that the Indian theatre director and drama teacher Ebrahim Alkazi was also an artist par excellence. To celebrate his 94th birth anniversary (October 18), some of his artworks have been showcased at an exhibition in the Capital. Called Opening Lines, the show presents Alkazi’s paintings and drawings in several media for the first time since the early 1950s and the mid-60s.
Curated by poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote (Jonahwhale and Vanishing Acts), the exhibition brings back the works that went into Alkazi’s exhibitions at the Asian Institute, London (1950), the Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1952), and at the Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi (1965).
Hoskote says, “It’s a research-based exhibition and not another works on display. It’s a particular sort of exhibition which displays the accomplished work of Alkazi.
He has always been looked up as a theatre personality and not as an artist but his artworks are commendable and need to be displayed. It’s been completely forgotten that he is an artist as well. The works that we are displaying were shown many decades ago and the exhibition is bringing them back. Through this exhibition we also want people to recognise him as an artist.”
Alkazi’s works that were done during the early 1950s, reflects in post-World War II fascination, like in the case of his abstract work Elopement. They embrace neolithic drawings, African masks and oceanic sculptures, as well as the key myths of the hunt, the sacrifice, and sexual communion. However, work from 1960 are crafted from shades of night, whether landscapes, seascapes, heads, torsos, or still life arrangements.
Artworks from The Alkazi Theatre Archives (ATA), a privately owned collection initiated in 2016 will also be a part of the exhibition.