TO THE DRAWING BOARD

AN EXHIBITION OF MANJIT BAWA’S DRAWINGS GIVES DELHIITES A CHANCE TO SEE THE GENESIS OF HIS ART

- Shaikh Ayaz

Manjit Bawa had a singular passion for drawing. It didn’t matter if he was spending time with family, or if he was ensconced in his New Delhi or Dalhousie studio, Bawa was always incessantly doodling on anything and everything he could find—phonebooks, invitations, even the newspaper. As he liked to say, “Haath chalte rehna chahiye (The fingers should keep moving).” Sketching, after all, was “essential to his riyaaz,” says his daughter Bhavna Bawa. “The forms, shapes and the delicate balance between positive and negative space you see in his canvases were often perfected in his drawings, long before they were sent out into the world.”

On view at the Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, until June 18,