K. Appukuttan Achary

Kesavan Appukuttan Achary (12 June 1925 – 31 January 1997), known as Appu, was an Indian painter and sculptor and one of the pioneers of the Indian modernist art movement in Bengaluru. Appukuttan had the rare distinction of being one of the few Indian artists with mastery over both sculpting and painting. He won national acclaim for his ivory sculpting, becoming one of the youngest persons to receive the National Award for master craftsmanship in ivory carving for his work, Chola Queen, by the scholar Professor S.K. Ramachandra Rao and published by the Kalpataru Research Academy. Appukuttan's book, Rekha, a practical approach to traditional motifs and forms, was a result of his desire to share his vast knowledge and experience to others in the field of arts and crafts.

Appukuttan's works - as a sketch artist, painter and sculptor - were rooted in traditional art but branched out to embrace modernism over time. His oil paintings are expressionist, sometimes bordering on abstraction. Some of his wood sculptures have drawn comparison with the works of Henry Moore. As a craftsman he was totally traditional; as an artist he was free of tradition. He was attracted to modern art for the freedom of expression that it afforded him. He is one of the few artists who was able to balance the traditional side of his creativity with the modern.

Besides being a prolific artist on paper and canvas, and a sculptor using various mediums, Appukuttan Achary wrote in various journals and periodicals, and also scripts for dramas.

Early life and family Appukuttan Achary was born on 12 June 1925 at Karikkakom in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala, India, into a family of artists, sculptors, dramatists and musicians of the 'Achary ' community of Kerala. The Achary community of Kerala are craftsmen who excel in carpentry, woodcarving, ivory carving and temple design. They claim descent from Vishwakarma, the divine architect of the gods. He inherited a cherished legacy of generations of craftsmanship. It was, therefore, only natural that he be proficient at traditional arts. He had a general education at a local school and learnt wood carving and sculpting from his father, Kochappi Achary, a well-known sculptor and a musician. More than landscape or other natural themes, it was human figures that interested Appukuttan. His works are invariably full-figure compositions chosen from daily life such as laborers at work, street singers, fakirs, fishermen, bamboo fiddle vendors, musicians, etc.

Regarding his human subjects among the common people, Appukuttan said: "These are real people. I feel deeply for them and sympathize with them. In that sense, these drawings are neither contrived nor meaningless essays." His complex, multi-faceted sensibility immediately and consistently draws one to his works - be they paintings, sculptures in wood or models in cement. The diversity that it reveals - which is the source of vitality and essence of all major art - is a result of Appu's refusal to be bound by conventions. Like most modernists, Appu pursued an individualistic line of approach. His works reveal that he looked as much to mythology as to a sort of psychoanalysis for subject matter. Many of his works based on mythology depict a deeper and more general spirit of a myth as directly and dramatically as he can. There are others where his deeper understanding and interpretation of the symbols can be experienced by the viewer in the flux of hushed paint.

Ink drawings

Drawing is the basis of all craftsmanship and Appukuttan Achary was a master of drawing. Appukuttan Achary, the craftsman, started from the point where artists like K.K. Hebbar left off. A majority of the drawings in the six volume Encyclopedia of Indian Iconography, Pratima Kosha, written by the scholar, Professor S.K. Ramachandra Rao, are by Appukuttan Achary. Appukuttan did not use the brush but, instead, used the palate knife. The strokes were bold and the colors bright. There is a harmonious blending of colors and objects in all his paintings, giving them a pleasing and natural effect.

Concluding his book, Rekha, Appukuttan wrote:

In addition to his works, Appukuttan contributed to the enrichment of the world of Indian art and craft in various ways:

He served as an Adviser to the Handicrafts Design Development Centre Committee in Karnataka and as a Member of the National Award State Selection Board He published articles about design and crafts in various periodicals and journals His paintings and carvings have been acquired by museums in Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and Shimoga. His works have been collected by many Indian European and American admirers - including art collectors from the US, UK, France, Denmark, Belgium, West Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, USSR, Sweden, East Africa, New Zealand, etc. At forty, Appukuttan was one of the youngest of the national award winners. They were:

1962 - Mysore State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Oil Painting for the work "Long Journey" 1963 - Mysore State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Sculpture for the work "Head of Lord Shiva" 1964 - Mysore State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Oil Painting for the work "A Vision" 1966 - Mysore State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Sculpture for the work "Harmony" 1966 - Mysore State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Oil Painting for the work "After the Bath" 1969 - Kerala State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Sculpture for the work "Family" 1970 - Kerala State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Oil Colour for the work "Men and Waves" 1978 - Kerala State Lalit Kala Akademi Art Exhibition for Sculpture for the work "Woman in Hollow Form" 1978

Besides the above awards, he received the:

1973 - Cochin Thuramugha Thozhilali Union Silver Jubilee for Oil Painting for the work "Heave-O-Heave" 1977 - Mysore Dasara Industrial and Cultural Exhibition for Oil Painting 1978 - The Hyderabad Art Society All India Exhibition for Sculpture for the work "Mother" Poet Kumaran Asan Centenary Art Exhibition Award for Painting Karnataka State Government Award for the best traditional craftsman

Exhibitions Throughout his life he participated in multiple one-man shows, group exhibitions and won many accolades, both at home and abroad.

Solo exhibitions Appukuttan Achary's solo exhibitions include:

Cosmopolitan Friendship Association, Vignana Bhavan School, Bengaluru, 17 December 1961 Recent Works in Wood, on Canvas and on Paper, Max Mueller Bhavan, Bengaluru. Exhibition of Drawings, Paintings and Sculptures, Max Mueller Bhavan, Bengaluru, 3 to 18 September 1965. An Exhibition of Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings, Alliance Francaise, Bengaluru. Exhibition on Traffic Rules, Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bengaluru, 10 to 15 May 1971. Painting and Sculptures Exhibition, Cane and Bamboo, Chennai

International exhibitions Some of Appukuttan Achary's international exhibitions were:

Sculpture Exhibition sponsored by Max Mueller Bhavan, Suriya Gallery, Frankfurt, West Germany Paintings and Sculptures Exhibition, Nataraja Gallery, Austin, Texas, USA Paintings Exhibition, South India Cultural Exchange Program in multiple places in the USSR

Group exhibitions Some of the group exhibitions that Appukuttan Achary participated in were:

Exhibition of Oil Paintings (Roshni Modayil) and Wood Sculptures (Appukuttan Achary), Visvesvaraya Industrial Trade Centre, Bengaluru, 14 August 1971.

Tendrils, a pair of lovers. His two Madonnas, one slightly variant from the other in the position of the Holy Child.

Reception, Preparation, Feelings, Huts in Corner, Monuments of Memories, Peace on Earth, Childhood, Toilet, Blue Cathedral, Groping in Dark, Boulders, Ruins, Crucification, Mist, Hill Resort, Towards Peace, Still Life with Nude, Gossip, Steel Plant at Night, City Scape, Huts, Poverty, Immersed (Figure in Abstraction), Beggars in the Street, Her Treasure, Vision, Advice, Thoughts, Horizon, Problems, Mother and Child, Helper Woman, Psalm of Life, Fakir, Burden of Life, Pride of

Labour, Awakening from Sleep, Lord and Life, Banana Seller, Lovers, Messenger, Union of Cosmic Principles, Fashion, Sisters, Nude in Black Curtain, Portrait Study, Forsaken Dwelling, Mohini, Expectation, Rhythm, The Eve, Divine Love, Folk Dance, Sisters, Life - a Boat Race, Family, Training (Max Mueller Bhavan, 13 to 18 September 1965)

Kavadiattam (Mysore Dasara Group Exhibition 1977)

Studies like Bhajan Singers, End of Day, and Builders are excellent examples of this individuality. While these stand out for their grace and distinction, themes like Flame of Passion, Spring, The Flow and such other canvases where the landscape gets an upper hand over the human figure embody a happy motive expressed with skill and

spontaneity.

Festival of Love depicting the joyous Holi singing and dancing. A theme from Sakunthalam, Sun God and The Light of the World are impressive works bearing testimony to Appukuttan's excellence in portraiture and expressionism. A Rural Sunset and Seasons are excellent landscapes rich in color-

blend and execution.

Appu Kuttan's oil paintings contain two Nude Studies which are exceptionally brilliant and bring out the charm of the feminine beauty. His painting entitled Affection portraying a cow and its calf licking each other is a picture of sheer naturalness and intense animal attachment.

The Bull-fight recalls the old tradition of Tamil Nadu where, during Pongal, the owner of the bull ties a bag of money to the horns of the bull, and the winning bullfighter gets the money and the owner's daughter in marriage.

Pilgrims, Folk Dance, and the two studies of Bapu are excellent examples of this mood. The Spring, Mind Let Loose, Ignorance and to a lesser extent Youth are symbolic in approach. But they certainly succeed in bringing out the mood and the atmosphere effectively. But for sheer freshness and daintiness of coloring Holi and Mind Let Loose as also Fisherman in a limited sense must be mentioned.

Among his paintings mention may be made of Sitting Nude with its striking red against the blue and black creating a certain dramatic impress.

His Reward, oil color, presents a familiar theme, forcefully in a new approach.

Throb of Love was a picture of a collection of vases with female forms, the artist in the background still busy fashioning them. It had a static, yet dynamic quality. Musician was a diagram of lines and circles, the theme figure identifiable only at a later glance. A superb composition of fishermen returning home with their nets (Way Back Home), details graphically filtered out, was in twilight tints. His other pictures like Reverie, Unity, etc., definitely followed in the wake of his sculpture.

Vanished Blue - The Departed Master, a reference to Pablo Picasso's Blue Period, delineated only in shades of blue and white, was Appukuttan Achary's tribute to the late Picasso. Picasso's famous Peace Dove framed his face, while his hands held a palette.

An eloquent colorful painting entitled Keep to the Left was part of the Exhibition on Road Rules to raise awareness on traffic rules.