‘Jangarh, sitting on a bamboo mat under a large tree with his drawings and paintings spread out before him, was wearing his ‘‘uniform’’ faded jeans and a checked flannel shirt. He smiled shyly as I told him how much my wife, Nilou, and I admired his drawings and paintings…’
This is how art collector Mitchell S Crites recalls his first meeting with the late Pardhan Gond artist, Jangarh Singh Shyam, in the preface to the newly published Jangarh Singh Shyam: The Enchanted Forest, Paintings and Drawings from the Crites Collection. Crites and his wife Niloufar own one of the largest collections of Shyam’s work.
The release of the book—authored by Aurogeeta Das, academic, printmaker and writer—was accompanied by the inauguration of an exhibition of selected works from the Crites’ fabulous collection (1983-2001) in New Delhi.
After a brief but brilliant career spanning 20 years, Shyam committed suicide in 2001.