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India. Bharat na Bhit Chitro is a collection of his articles on the subject. The book contains some of his exquisite copies of these wall paintings. But it also contains his valuable observations and opinions on a very inportant aspect of Indian art, i.e. the narrative element in Indian painting.
The way in which he went on with his work needs a special mention here. Even when he was in his early seventies, he would go to a temple early in the morning and work there for hours together at a stretch. He would pay little heed to the demands of his aging body and continue to make copies or tracings of the pat he found there. At times he would make a direct sketch with perfect scale. He went on with his work with undaunted enthusiasm and with meticulous care without missing even a single minute detail.
His most cherished ideal was to be faithful to the original always and in all ways. He would take into account the condition of a painting and would try his best not to miss the delicate turns of the lines and the shades of the colours of the original. After years of meticulous work, he had acquired a rare expertise in making tracings. In most cases the original pat painting or mural would be in a highly damaged condition. He would put a tracing paper on the original with great care so as not to damage the original any further. Then he would start making tracings in pencil. He would come home and prepare a finished tracing from the first one. Then he would make a copy of the finished tracing on a special roll of cloth-lined paper. He would then sit before the original and give the final and finishing touches to the line work before taking up his brushes and colours. He would never make any compromise with respect to the shades of the colours. He used water colours and wash-technique. At times it would take days and weeks for Vasudeo Smart to perfect just one roll like this, but the roll would be nothing less than an exact replica of the original with its human figures and their cloths and ornaments, the colours in the background, the line work and all its beauty and charm.
At seventy, the artist with a heavy roll of paper tucked under his arm and a sheaf of papers and a number of brushes and colour-tubes jostling in his hanging shoulder-bag, going to the temple of Adinath at Rander or coming back from his work or standig on a
Jain Kashthapat Chitra : 15
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