Cityscapes

Cityscape / Landscapes

The study of landscape forms an essential component of undergraduate education in fine arts, where students are trained to perceive the intricate relationships between form, light, and shadow. Beyond the mere representation of objects, the discipline seeks to capture the mysterious transformation of appearance brought about by shifting light and atmosphere. In the artistic life of Awadhesh Misra, this engagement began during his formal years of training, when he immersed himself in the practice of landscape painting inspired by the environment of his childhood in Ayodhya and later during his Art Master Training at the College of Arts and Crafts in Lucknow (1989-91. The varied architectural forms, seasonal transitions, and subtle interplay of light and shadow within these surroundings gradually found expression upon his canvases. During both his undergraduate and postgraduate years, the influence of Banaras Hindu University also became deeply visible within his landscapes.

In Lucknow, the imposing grandeur of the Bara Imambara, the stately elegance of La Martiniere College, the monumental arch of the Rumi Darwaza, the domes and historic structures of University of Lucknow, and the architectural magnificence of the Charbagh Railway Station continuously fascinated the artist. These elements emerge with remarkable naturalness in the landscapes of that period. Alongside watercolours, Awadhesh also explored oil painting executed with the palette knife, especially in his works centred upon Lucknow. Created on large canvases measuring four to six feet, these paintings reveal the expressive vitality of knife strokes combined with dramatic tonal contrasts of light and shadow, through which the antiquity and poetic beauty of the city’s old edifices attain a striking visual presence.

Awadhesh Misra’s Banaras series, created between 1991 and 1995, consists of works rendered in both watercolour and oil. Even after this phase, he continued to produce compositions inspired by Varanasi and Lucknow. The seeds of this series had begun to take shape as early as 1991, when he enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts programme at the Faculty of Visual Arts, Banaras Hindu University. During his years in the city, he lived successively at Nayi Sadak near Godowlia, Bridge Enclave in Sundarpur and finally at Rewa Kothi Hostel near Assi, experiences that brought him into intimate contact with the many layers of Banaras society and culture. Sketching and painting landscapes at Sir Sunderlal Hospital, the Gymkhana grounds, the railway station, and above all the ghats of the Ganga became part of his daily routine. From the Rewa Kothi Hostel, he could quietly observe the life of the river and the ceaseless activities unfolding upon the ghats from dawn until dusk, absorbing them with extraordinary sensitivity.

Among his teachers, he was most profoundly influenced by Dilip Das Gupta, who painted Banaras almost every day with remarkable devotion. Yet other distinguished mentors such as Raghubir Singh Dhir, Ravindra Nath Mishra, Pranam Singh, Santosh Kumar Singh, and Dipti Prakash Mohanty also contributed significantly to his artistic formation. The ghats of Banaras, the evening Ganga Aarti, ritual bathing during festivals, boat journeys upon the river, the effortless coexistence of the city’s people and sacred bulls, the movement of crowds through labyrinthine lanes, and the rhythms of worship and devotion gradually engraved themselves upon his inner consciousness. In due course, these impressions emerged through various media suited to their emotional tenor. For a certain period, such paintings also became a means of livelihood, much as they have for countless painters associated with Banaras.

In his depictions of the ghats, one encounters weathered buildings pressing into one another, collapsing and rising in layered formations; peepal, banyan, and neem trees emerging unexpectedly from ancient walls; slender stairways linking architectural masses; images of Lord Ganesha enshrined within niches; murals adorning doorways; and the shimmering reflections of these varied forms dissolving into the waters of the Ganga. Boats, parasols, and fluttering flags lend further splendour to the entire visual field. Through the use of rollers and richly varied chromatic orchestrations, Awadhesh transformed these elements into oil paintings of diverse scales and atmospheric intensity. In several works, the mysterious glow of light emerging from behind the buildings—the radiance of the city itself—creates an especially compelling visual effect.

Rewa Kothi Hostel was primarily a residence for students of music, and its atmosphere remained perpetually infused with melody and rhythm. It was there that Awadhesh’s own sensitivity toward music found deeper resonance and expansion, a lyrical vibration that continues to pulsate through his paintings even today.