Ganesh Haloi – Rhythm of Brahmaputra

Like every year, this year also ABP Anando group has selected and honoured nine distinguished Bengalis as “The best Bengalis of the year, 2015″ and Sri Ganesh Haloi is one of them for his lifelong contribution in the field of art and craft. He reached this height over coming so many obstacles and hardship through the passage of by- gone days and achieved this honour, ‘The Best Bengali’.

Sri Ganesh Haloi is an artist creating silence all around. He is an exceptional art personality in contemporary Indian art period. While creating paintings he had lifelong searched to various queries coming to his mind like a philosopher or scientist about art field itself. Finally he has emerged as a sympathetic fundamental voice of art.

Sri Ganesh Haloi hails from Jamalpur of greater Mymensingh of erstwhile ‘East Bengal’ (Now Bangladesh) in 1936. Right from childhood he is very introvert by nature, but had a serious passion for art. Many renowned artists hailed from his village and nearby areas. Gold medalist painter Sri Biren De was among them. He used to visit his village during Durga puja and created many water colour paintings of landscape sitting on the bank of the river Brahmaputra.

Teenager Ganesh Haloi used to follow him with great surprise days together. This inspired him so much that young Ganesh also started painting river based landscape with water colour. This was the beginning of an honorable great painter.

Apart from these painters, his school teachers and his father had great influence on him. He acquired his honesty, sincerity, purity of mind and love for all from these persons.

Sri Ganesh Haloi moved forward through many ups and downs in his life, but painting landscapes became part and parcel of his life. They may be of various shapes, structures, colours; but all these exhibited his feelings and emotions about his birth place and childhood. The trauma of uprooting from his motherland left its mark on his work as it did on some other painters of his generation. The melancholy of his young age repeatedly reflected on his creation. Gradual loss of unblemished beauty of nature by the modern civilization has pained him very much.

He moved to Kolkata after the partition in 1950 almost in penniless condition; but his mother’s blessings and his strong determination guided him to the right path as always. He graduated from Government College of Art and Craft at Kolkata in 1956. Next year he joined Archaeological Survey of India to make copies of ‘Ajanta Murals’ there. Ajanta paintings are one of the oldest in Indian fine arts. Sri Haloi studied in depth the basic structures, material used. Various shapes of these paintings were made according to space available, ecology and chronology of these wall paintings. These paintings are equally comparable even some times better than the works done during that period specially in Italy of Europe which were the haunting place of all renowned world famous artists. In his opinion, his small report cannot cover the huge details behind these wall paintings of ancient India.

After seven years’ involvement in the work of Ajanta Sri Haloi returned to work in Kolkata. He taught at the Government college of Art and Craft since 1963 till his retirement. Since 1971, he has been a member of the society of contemporary artists.

The experience of Ajanta influenced Sri Haloi profoundly. His work was marked by lyricism. Gradually he moved towards landscapes. A sense of nostalgia for a lost world pervaded these paintings. A refreshing interlude came when he did some paintings after a tour of the ruins of Gaur and Pandua in North Bengal.

He has done a number of commissioned mosaic murals. His stint at Ajanta led him to study Buddhism and do research on the technique of Ajanta murals. He published a research paper on the ‘Techniques of Ajanta Murals’ in the journal of Art in Industry in 1964.

As we know behind every successful person, there is definitely a positive force, inspiration and encouragement. His wife Mrs. Smriti Haloi is always by the side of him. He always received her unstinted support during his journey.

I am fortunate enough to know this great personality very closely. I have seldom met in my life such an amazing person who is innocent like a child possessing a heart as wide as his own canvas. I pray to God for his healthy long life. May God shower His blessings on Sri Haloi.

Sri Ganesh Haloi lives in Kolkata immersed in his own creation.

(Mr. Haloi with his wife and daughter)

Ajanta Research Work by Mr. Ganesh Haloi

King with offerings for worship, Ajanta cave-10, 1961, water colour paint on nepali paper, 30”x17”

Gautam Buddha,Ajanta caves-10, 1957 Pencil sketch, 10”x7”

The dancer, Ajanta cave-1, 10”x7.5”

Painting on Ajanta cave wall

Vidur pandit jatak, Ajanta cave-1,1958 13”x10”

About

Author: Mrs. Sumitra Das have been brought up in a wonderful hill station named Darjeeling. She believes that ‘nature’ is her second mother. The beautiful climate, pines, deodars, unnamed springs, waterfalls, flowers by the side of roads and on hills, snow covered Kanchenjunga , cute Nepali children  – all were her friends. Her passion for photography has come in this way. More over it is in her blood.  She inherited this passion from her father. He was a very good photographer and painter as well. From her childhood she used to help him in his photo session, i.e. washing, developing and enlarging his photos at their house. Photography is her passion. She loves photography from core of her heart and want to see each subject of nature through the lens of her camera. As her father was a very good painter, she has another passion for good paintings too. This led her to write this outstanding article about such a great personality like Sri Ganesh Haloi. 

You may like to read the article on Kingfisher and McFadyen.