Morning Light at Banaras

When Manu Parekh moved to New Delhi in 1975 after ten years in Calcutta, he sorely missed the thriving vitality of the eastern metropolis. He went to Banaras in the late 1970s to fill that vacuum and the city did not disappoint him. He found his mojo and continues to paint the holy city—most notably without its teeming humanity—to this day. This recent work is a departure from the others in his well-known Banaras series in its use of tantric-inspired figuration melded with abstraction, and pays obeisance to the city’s golden hour when it is at its ethereal best.