Monsoon

A keen observer of life, K. K. Hebbar focussed on quotidian activities of the people almost all throughout his life in his art. The artist often depicted the growing city of Bombay, the alienation of the individual, the struggle and social conditions of the working classes, and their humble living spaces. This painting, Monsoon, depicts a mother and her two children who seem unprepared for torrential rain, and are captured by the artist in the act of covering themselves from the downpour. The angular movements of the figures are aesthetically arranged against the architectural background of the locale, staged like a two-dimensional theatre set. A dynamic image, it shows the artist’s concern for the underprivileged, despite his own privilege, as a humanist at heart.