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M. F. Hussain and his Air-India creations

23/9/2016

1 Comment

 
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M. F. Hussain was arguably one of India's and the world's greatest contemporary artists. Very little more can be written about him that is not already widely known. So, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this little known story about the artist and Air-India.

Right from the Tata days, two of their enterprises, Air-India International and The Taj group of Hotels, had a tradition of encouraging art and culture. The airline kept this tradition alive even after nationalisation in 1953.
The story goes that whenever an accomplished, and even emerging artist or performer wanted to travel, the Taj stepped up to provide subsidised or free hotel accommodation and Air-India provided the air tickets. Out of gratitude, these artists would lavish the two corporations with gifts of their art, and both of these built extensive art collections running into thousands of paintings. these would adorn the walls of their various properties, and also be used in promotional material.
One of the works Hussain did for Air-India is depicted in a unique travel poster. It shows aspects of Indian life and culture we are intimately familiar with. Also visible is Hussain's trademark style. The poster is actually a set of wooden puppets cut out and arranged in a particular sequence. On the top, you have the Gita Updesh depiction, and see Hussain's horses in full colour and vitality. Lord Krishna is the charioteer, and Prince Arjuna with his arms folded, is riding into battle. The middle right has the bull with all his strength, and has many images merged into one; another trademark feature of Hussain's style. Most interesting is the bottom row with three figures of two drummers and a dancer, in gay abandon.

Now, by happenstance, Nargis Wadia (nee Khambata) presented me with the lovely photograph shown below. This is the Air-India reservation office at 7, Rue de Chantepoulet in Geneva. [read more about Nargis, and her innings at Air-India in my blog of 23 July 2016]
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Travel poster #28. c.1953-58.
Artist: M. F. Hussain

This photograph taken around mid-late 1955 shows the tastefully decorated Air-India International booking office in Geneva. Seated on the sofa in the sari is young Nargis who was on vacation in Europe at the time. Now look at the murals on the walls, and guess what: Hussain again! Yes, the murals on the walls were done by the master himself. The same wooden puppet cut-out treatment as in the poster. Notice the group on the right, two drummers and a dancer. Also, the second group from the left, partly obscured by the pillar has horses, and a chariot. now look at the poster again. Amazing.

It is difficult to put in words how pleasing this hobby is for me, and how grateful I am to the kindness of well-wishers who come forward to bless me with stories of this airline, and endow the collection with irreplaceable artifacts. Air-India is the stuff legends are made of.
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Air-India International reservation office at 7, Rue de Chantepoulet in Geneva.  (c.mid-late 1955)
The mural is by M. F. Hussain, one of the greatest contemporary artists in the world.
Please pardon the fold in the center of the photograph.
1 Comment

Meet Sheela 'Charu' Gupte (nee Tipnis) an artist, who worked in the Air-India Art Studio during the 1970s.

16/9/2016

0 Comments

 
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I met with Charu Gupte at her home in Mumbai, as she was busy tending to her young grand-child. She retired from Air-India a few years ago and was kind enough to recount fond memories of her years at the Art Studio, under the inspirational presence of Jal Cowasjee.

After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts at MS University, Baroda, she joined Air-India at a princely stipend or Rs. 90 per month in 1968.
The Air-India offices were then at the Bank of India building at Flora Fountain (Hutatma Chowk). She recalls the move to the iconic Air-India building at Nariman Point in 1971, and how deserted and lonely the walk was then to the office from Churchgate Station. The Art Studio occupied the pride of place in the skyscraper at one of the topmost floors, with plenty of natural light and a great view of the city.

Charu regaled me with stories of the evolution of the Maharajah, and how he was at first a slim and tall character, and over time got shorter, and a little portlier. Also, how his persona evolved. Earlier his eyes were shown open but later were always seen closed or looking downwards, as though he is humbly welcoming the real maharajah, the passenger, on board his flying carpet. In the beginning, his palms were not joined together although he was in the bowing pose. The right hand was bent, placed midriff, and left hand was to his side. It was only in the early 2000's that the pose was changed to a 'namaste' one.

Among numerous designs for Air-India, Charu recalls drawing and re-drawing several of the coasters that were issued in the late 1970s in a new design (Type 4.1).

Charu retired as the AGM, Advertising and Special Promotions, Air-India. She has many more photographs of her stint in the Art Studio, and other colleagues she worked with there, and I am hoping that I will get an opportunity to add them to the web-site soon.
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Charu at work in the Air-India Art Studio c. late-1970s, with her artists material all around her. She is working on a brochure on How to tie a turban, and you can see the open books being used as reference material. Also on the drawing board, you can see sketches of the coaster designs she has been working on.
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Klaus Vomhof - Air Transport Historian

10/9/2016

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Klaus Vomhof lives in the U.K., and is the author of Leisure Airlines of Europe: The History of European Charter Airlines from 1945 to the present day. I got in contact with him when he was selling his collection of about 35 Air-India flight schedules from the 1950s thru 1970s. It is generally very difficult to get such a large bunch of timetables.

You may wonder why these are collectible. A comprehensive Timetable collection actually helps chronicle the history of an airline and records the introduction and cessation of routes, aircraft used, flight timings etc. All very valuable to an airline historian and to an aerophilatelist. They also often contain route maps, fleet information, fares etc.
In addition, Air-India timetables have perhaps the most amazing art on their cover, which is reason enough to want these in any collection. You can see images in the timetables section on my website.
This week I was pleasantly surprised to receive a very kind gift from him, and an invaluable addition to my collection and web-site. A package arrived in the mail containing The Story of Indian Air Transport by J. R. D. Tata.
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This is text of a talk Mr. Tata gave at the Royal Aeronautical Society on 18th November 1960, as The Sixteenth British Commonwealth Lecture. This was first published in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society in January 1961, and the book I got was a mint state reprint (with permission of the RAS) by the Air-India Press, Bombay on March 1973 (200 copies). Indeed a treasure. It does not stop here. He also sent me an Air-India charters timetable effective 15 July 1978, the first I have seen; and a press release from Air-India London on the 30th Anniversary of the first Bombay-London service that was on 8 June 1948.
The Press Release had a most wonderful label affixed on it. This had the image of a Travel Poster issued in 1948, and the release also mentions that Air-India had issued a re-print of 1948 poster itself. Now, that would indeed be an interesting find.

Thank you Mr. Vomhof for your  generous gift. I am sure many Air-India enthusiasts will enjoy viewing these.
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