CR Pakrashi, well known artist and leading stamp designer, left us on 16th March 2016 at the age of 95. During his association with the Department of Posts that lasted many decades, he produced some brilliant stamp designs that now form a proud part of our philatelic heritage. Sankha Samanta, fellow artist and stamp designer, reflects on the teacher –pupil equation that he shared with the senior.
 |
| Picture courtesy www.dnaindia.com |
Some time back in the late 1980s at the headquarters of the Department of Posts, I was introduced by the Director Philately to a remarkable gentleman whom I came to look up to as a guide and philosopher. He was Chitta Ranjan Pakrashi, who had to his credit the designs of some of the most beautiful stamps issued by India Post, which I had always admired. I was then a young artist myself, freshly out of Delhi Art College having done Post Graduation in Fine Arts, and was a newly empanelled Postage Stamp designer of Department of Posts.
For me then, Pakrashi Sir was an icon. However that awe was soon made to diminish by him himself during our conversation. I was amazed that a man of his stature, age and experience could be so simple and full of grace. Later I was surprised that he knew my family also, as my father who is an artist of his generation was known to him. In our nearly 3 decades of association I would often exchange notes about stamp designs with a view to improve the designing standard of postage stamps.
Of the 54 stamps he designed from 1956 to 2008, the one that I admire the most is his first which was issued in 1956 on the occasion of the 2500th Buddha Jayanti. The Stamp depicts a stylized Bodhi tree on a full moon night. Buddha attained enlightenment when he went into deep meditation during a full-moon night under a Bodhi tree. The simple single sepia colour stamp plays with the negative spaces of the paper white in such a way that it shimmers with light, across the half concentric patterns of the Bodhi leaves in two radiating rows. The deliberate focus on single leaf in the centre of the image creates a trance that is experienced in meditation. The stamp blends the moonlit night, Enlightenment, tranquility, peace and celebration in an extraordinary design format. I assume he could have achieved this only after elaborate research and after the process of elimination of all that is not necessary (a fundamental aspect of Stamp Designing process). Like his own persona, his designs reflect simplicity.
The other stamps which are landmarks in his extraordinary journey are the Jai Bangla stamp issued in 1973 to commemorate the first parliament session of Bangladesh, the 1982 INPEX stamp depicting railway mail service wagon and the J.R.D. Tata stamp issued in 1994. Of course, this is a subjective selection and many more among his designs could be described as outstanding. Each of these designs can be analyzed in great detail as each design is embedded with a history of research, devotion to the art form, sensitive handling of the subject and great dexterity in doing the artwork.
Chitta Ranjan Pakrashi was a man of many talents. And like a guiding star he left us with a book written by him. Titled A Stamp is Born, it was released on 6 May 2014 by the Vice President of India, M Hamid Ansari.Today as a stamp designer, I miss his valuable advice, and as somebody who had the fortune to be close enough to him, I will always cherish the moments of love and affection he gave me all these years.
No comments:
Post a Comment