Street show for art’s sake

BANGALORE: For three days around the first weekend of February 1970, the stonecobbled pavement near Bible Society on MG Road was lined up with 17 paintings by an artist from Udupi who was already making an impression. The canvases — some placed on window ledges of the 19th century building and some others along the wall on grass patches — caught the attention of onlookers and connoisseurs alike.
The 32-year-old artist, GS Shenoy, had just returned from Bombay where he tried in vain to find galleries for his works. Then, Bangalore, with a population of 16 lakh, didn't have a single gallery. To hire a suitable hall meant shelling out Rs 100 per day, unaffordable then for a painter. Work on the Venkatappa Art Gallery on Kasturba Road hadn't progressed beyond the foundation.
The next year, Shenoy came back to the street show and indeed, to the same venue, along with four other young artist friends from the coast to press home the point of an art space for the city. The Progressive Painters of Coastal Mysore (Mysore state was renamed Karnataka in 1973) as they called themselves, were Shenoy himself, PS Punchitaya, U Bhasker Rao, U Ramesh Rao and AS Acharya.
The pavement gallery attracted shoppers, tourists and sundry passers-by who stopped to ask the artists about the works. The wife of the then director of Max Mueller Bhavan, Gertrude Briar, who bought a painting, reportedly said such shows went a long way in strengthening art appreciation. Shenoy recalled how the Bible Society did its bit by opening up its garage to store the paintings when it rained.
Support came in from all corners. An art lover called Shenoy from Bombay offered help in every way he could. He landed in Bangalore and then stood by them through the four-day show. At times, the artists took a tea break, asking him to hold the fort. He did, willingly and sincerely. Only later did Shenoy realize this art enthusiast was a top engineer in the Navy. Responding to the protest, the governor, Dharma Vira, promised them he’d speed up work on the Venkatappa gallery and ensure it would be completed in a few months. The gallery was opened about four years later, thanks to Shenoy making his pavement point.