Sagas in a tiny frame: Art critic Uma Nair on political cartoonist Abu Abraham

The proof of his genius lies in the resonance of his minimalist works, Nair says. He was a humanist: witty but not cruel; scathing but compassionate.

As a child, Uma Nair read the newspapers diligently. As a little art lover, she was particularly drawn to the cartoons.

RK Laxman’s Common Man was already a national favourite, as she made her way through school in the 1960s. Nair was a teen, better able to appreciate subtlety, by the time Abu Abraham returned to India and began drawing, mainly for The Indian Express, in 1969.

“My father would discuss the irony and satire with me, especially just before