Untitled

The continuing debate of the ‘naked’ and the ‘nude’ in a country that celebrates its heritage with aplomb but rages furiously when an artist represents it, reflects personally in Akbar Padamsee’s life. Decades ago, a legal case of obscenity was filed against Padamsee’s painting, Lovers, which he successfully defended. In his distinguished career as an artist, Padamsee returned to the nude form intermittently, viewing it with a certain dispassion while finding in it a sense of proportion and natural grace. It also allowed him to stay in touch with the basics of art, where he used only a few brush strokes to evoke an emotive form.