Swirl power: Canvases trace how the garden city of Bengaluru has changed

Rumale Chennabasaviah (1910-1988) loved Bangalore, and painted it over and over. See how his art captured the early years of flux.

It was only in the early 1960s, after quitting politics at the age of 52, that Rumale Chennabasaviah (1910-1988) truly began his career as an artist. Once he began painting, art consumed Chennabasaviah. He went around the city, and across Karnataka (as the state of Mysore was renamed in 1973), painting for hours in the open.

He was a plein air artist; once he had picked an outdoor spot, he would return at the same time, every day, to paint it. In this way, he captured Cubbon Park; a corner of the Vidhan Soudha; the high court; the Jog Falls; and various houses and streets, temples and churches.

He mixed colours on the paper or canvas, and not on a palette, and this was a bit like playing chess. One wrong shade, or a slightly drippy mix, and the whole work could go to waste. The upside of painting like this is that his works throb with life. Because of when he painted, they also capture the early years of flux: from quiet frames bursting with greenery, trees and flowers, to swathes of grey beginning to take over. Take a look:

Building and Bougainvillea, Bhasyam Circle, Rajajinagar (1983). (Rumale Art House)

Yellow Bloom, Cubbon Park (1977). (Rumale Art House)

Bougainvillea on Sri Nagappa Alva’s Residence, Bangalore (1973). The greenery and florals begin to dwindle from the mid-1980s, and concrete begins to creep increasingly into the frame. (Rumale Art House)

Unknown Soldier Statue near GPO, Bangalore (1978). (Rumale Art House)

Palash in Bloom, Lalbagh (1978). In canvases he painted in the ’60s and ’70s, we see a Bangalore all but engulfed in lush trees and explosions of flowers. Chennabasaviah painted to the end. He slipped into a coma and died following a road accident in Lalbagh, in 1988. He had gone to the park to study a tree in bloom. (Rumale Art House)