Finding solace in his paintings
Although the passing of his beloved wife has cast a shadow, Ifthikar Cader hasn’t lost his love for painting as he prepares for his upcoming exhibition ‘Plein-Air 2020’
He has just finished painting it the previous evening – a scene close to the Yala National Park- the setting sun reflected in the waters. Still on an easel in the artist’s studio at his Kohuwala home, the large canvas gives us a glimpse of what Ifthikar Cader’s exhibition ‘Plein- Air 2020’ to be held on March 3 and 4 at the Lionel Wendt, will offer.
The painting glows with colour, but for the artist, sadly some of the vibrancy of life has diminished with the passing away of his beloved wife Shamimara last April. They had been married almost 60 years and he feels her absence deeply. Well known for his mastery of the ‘plein air’ style, he is focusing all his energies on this exhibition which will show not only his recent work but some dating back a few decades.
Painting has given him some solace in these difficult times, he says, something to turn his mind to, something that his doctor wife loved and encouraged him in. Theirs was an enduring love – they met in Pakistan, her home country, when she was 23 and he just 20. They married in London where she was studying and where he would join the London School of Economics (later switching to accountancy), moved back to Pakistan a few years later before finally making their home here in Sri Lanka with their young family.
Though painting had always fascinated him, so much so he would visit the vast galleries and museums in whichever European city he travelled to, in his younger days rugby was his primary passion, he recalls. It was only after retirement from a successful career in the gem business at the age of 57 that his eldest daughter Shahnaz seeing him bored at home, urged him to start painting again.
It couldn’t have come at a better time - Ifthikar now armed with a new set of paints he had got from the New Coop’s corner store at the Kollupitiya junction embarked on a remarkable journey which would see him plunge anew into painting and also into serious study. He went into art theory and techniques with the ample resources available on the Internet “access to Internet was a Godsend to people like me for I was clueless,” he says frankly.
His first exhibition in 1996 saw quite a few paintings sold, “some were bought by family and friends’ and this gave him the impetus to continue. He has exhibited regularly through the years.
The ‘plein air’ technique he favours involves painting outdoors and capturing the scene before him in a short space of time. With his great love for wildlife and travel, this suited him fine and frequent family trips to wildlife parks and lesser known spots gave him ample opportunity. By necessity, plein air paintings are small. You have only a small window of time, you have to be ever conscious of the changing light, he says, and in our tropical climes, by 5.30 p.m, the light is fading, quite in contrast to the long European summers. But the beauty lies in seeing nature in front of you.
Age has restricted travel, so he now mostly draws from photographs. His recent works - an arresting painting of Adam’s Peak was done from a photograph taken by Dr. Dinesh de Silva from a vantage point in Pidurutalagala; a coconut estate in Mundal; a leopard in all its spotted glory at Yala (the background looking more like Wilpattu) will be seen in this exhibition while there are all too familiar scenes from around the island- the Mirisawatiya dagoba, Sigiriya rock, even tranquil landscapes of Trinidad and Tobago and Pakistan, places he has visited over the years.
Most of the artists here paint abstracts and his style of representative art, he feels, was not much appreciated. “I found it difficult to get recognition because I paint in the traditional Impressionist style. I did a few abstracts and surprisingly they sold,” he says but preferred to stick to his style. In recent years, he has adopted a more loose form, the
background less delineated.
As we go round the virtual art gallery on his walls, he recalls how he often neglects to sign his paintings and how his wife would always be quick to remind him “have you signed it?”