India - the Mother

October 28, 1953

Here in India, there is an art tradition that has subsisted, the whole country is full of creations that were made at the height of the art history of the country. People live in it. The repercussion of what has taken place in the rest of the world, particularly in Europe, has not been felt much. Only those parts of India that have been a little too anglicized have lost the sense of beauty—some schools of Bombay, schools of artists, are dreadful. Then there was that attempt of the Calcutta School to revive Indian art, but that is only on a very small scale. From the artistic point of view, what you find within easiest reach is the old creations, the old temples and old paintings. All that was very fine. And it was done to express a faith. It was done with the sense of a whole, not of disorder.... Most of the works here, almost all beautiful works, I think, are unsigned. All those cave paintings and cave sculptures are unsigned. We have no idea who made them. And they didn't make them with idea of making a name for themselves, as they do now. You were a great sculptor, a great painter, a great architect, and that was all. There was no question of sticking your name on everything and making a sensational announcement of it in newspapers so no one would forget it! In those days, the artist did what he had to do, without bothering whether his name would go down to posterity or not. It was done with a movement of aspiration to express a higher beauty, and above all with the idea of giving a suitable dwelling to the deity invoked. In the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, it was the same thing.... Whereas now, there is not one scrap of painted or daubed canvass that does not display a signature to let you know, "This was done by Mister So-and-so"!

Questions and Answers (1953): 28 October 1953