Version imprimableThe Telegraph, April 7, 2023
Leading light
The artist as a young man
Vivan Sundaram (May 1943-March 2023)
by Prabhat Patnaik
I am not competent to discuss the work of Vivan Sundaram, the brilliant painter and installation-artist who passed away on March 29. But I must still write about him because not doing so for a person who has so enriched my life would be utterly invidious.
Vivan and I should have met in 1970. I had gone from Cambridge to London to speak at SOAS to a group of Left students on the Indian political economy, and Vivan later told me that he was in the audience; but we did not meet. Likewise, we were both at the massive and historic Grosvenor Square demonstration in London against the Vietnam War, but we never met in that sea of humanity. Our first meeting was in Delhi after both of us had returned to India. My wife and I had gone to an exhibition of his paintings, including a remarkable one that he had done when his mother had passed away. We asked the person who we thought was the attendant at the show how we could meet the painter; and he shyly informed us that he was the painter.
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Vivan was a frequent visitor to the Jawaharlal Nehru University those days, bringing all his exhibitions to the campus, happily talking to students, and socializing with members of the faculty. We often congregated at the house of our close common friend, Anil Bhatti. Our then vice-chancellor, G. Parthasarathy, had a large painting by him on the wall behind his chair in the VC
