Sailoz Mookherjea is a member of an exclusive club of nine painters — Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore among them — whose works are designated by law as 'national treasures', i.e, they cannot be taken out of the country. More significant is how influential Mookherjea was as a teacher and mentor, shaping the sensibilities of an entire generation of young artists, among them Ram Kumar, J Swaminathan, Arpita and Paramjeet Singh. So why is it that Mookherjea is largely forgotten by the art world today? Paramjeet Singh, another students, says, "In Delhi, the tradition of projecting artists did not develop like in Bengal or Bombay [Mumbai]. They are driven by profits alone and will not make a special effort to promote a forgotten artist."

Source: dna December 03, 2017 01:18 UTC