S. Dhanapal, was the Chennai based nationally acclaimed sculptor, pedagogue, dancer, jewellery designer and choreographer, whose education was at the Madras School of Arts and Crafts, later joining as a teacher and retiring as Principal. His oeuvre comprised of drawings, paintings and sculptures. The mellifluous rhythmic flow of human forms in drawing and painting arose out of his bodily rhythm as a dancer. His prolific drawings that served as the mental images of his concepts rested on the belief that to draw was to exist. His paintings had nuanced subtle charm of the Bengal School artists as well as the inspiration derived from the mural tradition of South. His claim to fame was premised on his pioneering vision, crafting sculptures that had dominant frontality without the loss of mass and volume, opening spaces within, which he manipulated through clever conflation of tradition and modernity. He waded through his efforts to arrive at quasi abstraction through quasi realistic works that maintained touch with reality. Dhanapal consistently believed that his sculptures translated as a dialogue of volume, rhythm and space. His pioneering efforts from an ideological perspective provided a bridge of connectivity between traditional elements with modernist idioms. Though rooted in the formal elements, the manipulation of space and textures were evocative of his sensitive feelings. These dimensions emerged out of his empathy regarding human nature. Bounded with his sense of self was the sense of what it was to be human. Dhanapal’s sculptures today have a ring of omniscience. H... See more
S. Dhanapal, was the Chennai based nationally acclaimed sculptor, pedagogue, dancer, jewellery designer and choreographer, whose education was at the Madras School of Arts and Crafts, later joining as a teacher and retiring as Principal. His oeuvre comprised of drawings, paintings and sculptures. The mellifluous rhythmic flow of human forms in drawing and painting arose out of his bodily rhythm as a dancer. His prolific drawings that served as the mental images of his concepts rested on the belief that to draw was to exist. His paintings had nuanced subtle charm of the Bengal School artists as well as the inspiration derived from the mural tradition of South. His claim to fame was premised on his pioneering vision, crafting sculptures that had dominant frontality without the loss of mass and volume, opening spaces within, which he manipulated through clever conflation of tradition and modernity. He waded through his efforts to arrive at quasi abstraction through quasi realistic works that maintained touch with reality. Dhanapal consistently believed that his sculptures translated as a dialogue of volume, rhythm and space. His pioneering efforts from an ideological perspective provided a bridge of connectivity between traditional elements with modernist idioms. Though rooted in the formal elements, the manipulation of space and textures were evocative of his sensitive feelings. These dimensions emerged out of his empathy regarding human nature. Bounded with his sense of self was the sense of what it was to be human. Dhanapal’s sculptures today have a ring of omniscience. He was a path breaker without realizing the valence his works carried particularly from the South in the crucial decades of 1950s and 1960s. Striving always to be different, Dhanapal believed that success and reaching the pinnacle in style was not enough to make any artist rest on his laurels; as he continued to work till his last breath.
