Curator rescues artist and his association with Mumbai from oblivion

The next time you are at Goregaonrsquos Aarey Milk Colony look for a little known fact about an artistic contribution to its verdant quarters made in the early Independence years In the popular picnicking spot Chhota Kashmir stands a sculpture fittingly titled Dudhwala as homage to Aareyrsquos prime dairy enterprise Looking at the robust but forlorn sculpture it is hard to imagine that its maker paid artistic tributes to Indiarsquos grandees such as Lord Brabourne and the Maharajahs of Travancore as much as the pastoral labourerAntonio Piedade da Cruz at his studio at Churchgates Stadium House in 1943An artist cut in two the story of Antonio Piedade da Cruz is one that has needed rescuing from oblivion and a dose of art resuscitation Last week the Goabased industrialist family of the Salgaocars opened up their collection of da Cruzrsquos works in an exhibition that has been three years in the makingResearched and curated by poet curator and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote the exhibition sets out to fix a gap in the story of Indiarsquos Moderns while many of his contemporaries saw topdollar at auctions and rigorous critique of their works da Cruz has been denied his shareAt the ongoing exhibition the Christ sanctum interprets that da Cruzrsquos Christ was not one of an orthodox institution but rather a redeemer of the oppressedThe exhibition titled The Quest for Cruzo A Homage to the Art of Antonio Piedade da Cruz opened last week at Sunaparanta the charming arts centre set up by industrialist Dattaraj Salgaocar in Panjim It will be on show till July 20 In many ways this is a homecoming for da Cruz Born in Velim Salcete in Portugueseruled Goa in 1895 he studied in Mumbairsquos Sir JJ School of Art like many of his artisticallyinclined Goan peers and Berlin but decided not to return to his homestate He knew he wouldnrsquot be welcome in a Goa under the dictatorial regime of Antonio Salazar de Oliveira of PortugalInstead he functioned out of his studio in Mumbai In his curatorial essay Hoskote who has sourced archival photographs for this exhibition draws attention to this bit of da Cruzrsquos history that was overtaken by Mumbairsquos glitzy growthIt was between the 1980s and early 2000s when Hoskote would stop by for icecream at Churchgatersquos famous parlour K Rustomrsquos that was housed on the ground floor of Stadium House ldquoLooking aboverdquo he writes ldquoI would wonder about the artist who carried on his practice above picturing him as a recluse or man of mysteryrdquo Eventually the red lettering which advertised Cruzo Studio disappeared altogether ldquoBetween the 1930s and the 1950s the Cruzo Studio servedas a lively meeting ground for artists writers and activists a hub for cultural discussion and political debateit offered refuge to members of the Goan resistance against the Salazar regimerdquoDudhwala a scuplture commissioned from Cruz in the 1950s in postIndependent India stands in disrepair at Goregaonrsquos Aarey Milk Colony PicSayyed Sameer AbedildquoDa Cruzrsquos association with Mumbai was deep and strong from his studio on Veer Nariman Road to public commissions such as the Dudhwala public sculpture in the Aarey Milk Colonyrdquo says Hoskote Da Cruzrsquos influence among the glitterati of his times was such that The Cricket Club of India CCI in search of a new stadium asked him to intercede on their behalf to Lord Brabourne whose portrait da Cruz was painting at the timeTemple Entry 1965 in which da Cruz expressed his interest in the condition of Indiarsquos poorDespite the circles that da Cruz kept Hoskote maintains that the artistrsquos deepest sympathies lay with the wretched of the earth ldquoThere were two different streams within da Cruzrsquos oeuvre One part of his studio practice was portraiture in an academic realist style The other part was his symbolicallegorical narratives mdash heightened dramatic works that suggest psychological realities and national narratives When we look at the photographs of his studio we see that he never sold the works in which he addressed the anticolonial strugglerdquo says Hoskote He points out Temple Entry Touch the Untouchables 1965 in which a poor mother and child sit limply outside temple doors In You Crucified Me Again 1969 the regalia of the church hierarchy is contrasted with the poor commonersThe curator cites da Cruzrsquos two meetings with Gandhi and a cycle of 24 paintings that he dedicated to the Mahatma from his return from South Africa to his assassination Referring to the Christ sanctum in the exhibition Hoskote says ldquoDa Cruzrsquos Christ was not the Christ of the orthodoxy but rather a redeemer of the oppressed a Jesus who emerges from the classes that work and not the classes that enjoy the fruits of othersrsquo workrdquoHoskotersquos research follows Salgaocar acquiring Cruzrsquos works after his studio was repossessed by the CCI Lying in neglect in a storeroom Hoskote points out the cityrsquos pigeons and its coastal climate are to blame the paintings were expertly restored by Kayan Marshall Pandole However this obscurity says Hoskote is not unusual in itself as there were several factors working against da Cruz such as the dwindling patronage postIndependenceThe Quest for da Cruzo is part of Hoskotersquos engagement with the culture of the Goan diaspora and also an ongoing research project into the lost histories of the Indian modern on which he collaborates with cultural theorist and art critic Nancy Adajania The lost history da Cruz could have something to do with Mumbairsquos psyche ldquoDa Cruz had been relegated to amnesia by an art world whose memory and attention span are fickle and by the public culture of Bombayhelliprdquo writes Hoskote