Page 10 - Jehangir Sabavala - TheArtsTrust
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governesses would often find this   emphasis on human anatomy. He believed that
                                                                                                                                          silent, creative child spending     a painter who couldn’t paint a nude would also
                                                                                                                                          time by himself in the house,       be unable to paint a landscape. Works such as
                                                                                                                                          building miniature cities using     a ‘Nude Study’ in charcoal on paper from 1948
                                                                                                                                          bottles. When the family returned    make his preoccupation with the human body
                                                                                                                                          to Bombay, he joined the Cathedral   evident. Multiple influential artists such as
                                                                                                                                          and John Connon School. While his    R D Dhopeshwarkar and J M Ahivasi also
                                                                                                                                          brother flourished in the school set-  taught at the institution, and informed his
                                                                                                                                          up, acing sports and building a wide   art. ‘The Festival’, a gouache on paper work
                                                                                                                                          social circle, the introverted Jehangir   that  was  his  third-year  submission  at  the
                                                                                                                                          preferred the company of older folk.   institution, shows the evolution of Sabavala’s
                                                                                                                                               In 1939, Jehangir visited London   techniques, command of colour and themes
                                                                                                                                          to meet a tutor who was to guide him   during his studies there. He graduated with
                                                                                                                                          to join the likes of Oxford or Cambridge   a diploma in 1944.
                                                                                                                                          for his higher education, but he wasn’t      Jehangir, like his mother, wanted to
                                                                                                                                          successful  in  the  interview,  and was   become an actor, taking elocution lessons,
                                                                                                                                          asked to return to India immediately    acting in plays and musicals and even
                                                                                                                                          as World War II was imminent. He left    learning the violin. With this in mind, he
                                                                                                                                          Europe on the brink of it being ravaged   returned to London in 1945 on the ship
                                                                                                                                          by the Nazis and entered an India that   Arundel Castle, with British soldiers. Shot
                                                                                                                                          was on the cusp of monumental change.     out  of  his  privileged  life  aboard  a  ship
                                                                                                                                                                                    where he shared the duties of swabbing
                                                                                                                                          The Rise of an Academic                   decks and cleaning toilets, Jehangir had
                                                                                                                                          Sabavala joined Elphinstone College to     his first taste of hardship. Upon landing
                                                                                                                                          study English literature with Kamal Wood,   in the city, he was sobered by the stark
                                                                                                                                          a famed Shakespeare scholar. Shortly       reality of the after-effects of a cruel war
                                                                                                                                          after, in 1942, he transferred himself to Sir   but  also  encountered  a  burgeoning
                                                                                                                                          Jamsetjee  Jeejeebhoy  School  of  Art.  Here,   art community trying to cope as they
                                                                                                                                          principal Charles  Gerrard  encouraged  him   knew best, including artists such as
                                                                                                                                          to  study at his  own pace, even  allowing   Francis Bacon.
                                                                                                                                          him  to  skip  the  formal  examinations.  This,   Although he abandoned his
                                                                                                                                          for Sabavala, was important as it nurtured   career in acting, his love for theatre
                                                                                   The artist in the 1940s,                               his style of learning. A true non-conformist   was showcased in his works
                                                                                      beginning to find his                               at heart, he enjoyed delving into his interests   throughout his life. The dramatic
                                                                                           artistic footing
                                                                                                                                          albeit in an unstructured way.                flair of his subject’s costumes, the
                                                                                                                                               At Sir J J School of Art, Jehangir would   drapes, and the stances, lent to his
                                                                                                                                          develop an interest in life studies, with a special   undying fascination with theatre.




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