Russian painter dips into the colours of India

Ludmilla says her canvas has enormously been enriched by colours of the country.

Ludmilla Chakrabarty, perhaps the only Russian painter living and working in India, says her canvas has enormously been enriched by the colours of this country.

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"I couldn't have been the painter that I am without India," Chakrabarty, wearing a blue printed sari and sleeveless blouse, said.

Chakrabarty, who has done over 10 solo shows, is now preparing to open her next show of oils at the PBC Art Gallery here Oct 29.

She came to India in 1997 after she married an Indian doctor who had spent time in Russia during his training. "We met at Tver, which is at a two hours drive from Moscow, and where my parents now live.

"Coming to India was a very difficult choice to make," said Chakrabarty, who lives with her husband Smarajit, an orthopedic surgeon, in Faridabad.

"The culture shift was quite a bit and there were so many ways one had to adjust. But you know, when men want you to do something, they always find a way to make you agree," laughed the painter most of whose clients are foreigners.

Chakrabarty took to painting seriously while working as a lecturer in English at the University of Yver and her paintings are now in the Russian and Israeli embassies in Delhi and private collections in Russia, U.S.A., Canada, England, Germany and Israel.

"I became a true artist only in India," said the painter who once used vegetable oil for one of her paintings.

"That was the housewife in me. I did not have any oil left for my canvases and I needed some urgently, so I used what I had. But no one should ever use it - it takes two months to dry."

Chakrabarty, who paints human figures and a lot of nature, sells her canvases between Rs.10, 000-60,000 and now plans a couple of shows in Russia.

"The best part is that there are two cultures within me and I can draw inspiration from both for my work."