Sobha Singh and me

Article by Deepak Kumar

Art is eternal and born with mankind, god has inculcated different forms of art not only in humans but also in animals which mesmerizes us humans. There is no question about how humans have learned from nature, the different forms of art. If I am talking about myself, I was eager to draw something on paper at an early age, the pictures in the newspapers, magazines and of course my school books always inspired me to draw, that was my beginning of drawing as an art.

When I reached middle school I read about Mr. Sobha Singh, an artist of Punjab who had painted so many paintings related to Sikh guru’s freedom fighters, Indian politicians on Punjabi and Himachali culture The painting that struck me as a drawing and painting was ‘Sohni Mahiwal’ which was beautifully painted by Mr Sobha Singh.

In this painting, the color mixture, background scene, the painful contemplation on the face of Mahiwal and the water-saturated body of ‘sohni’ is a masterpiece according to me. I had tried so many times to draw and paint with watercolors during my early age of drawing and sketching. My mother customarily told us the story of Sohni mahiwal as a romantic Punjabi folk tale known by every citizen of Punjabi family in India and abroad as a true love story.

The beauty of the painting is based upon the tragedy of ‘Mud Pot’ shown in this painting and on the left of the painting the dry bushes with branches and the background color combination, brush strokes showing the tragic and pleasuring affair of both. He has shown the human emotion and cultural elegance of Punjab very attractively in his paintings. As per my understanding, Mr. Sobha Singh was born in Punjab at Gurdaspur District in Hargobindpur in a Sikh family and completed his draftsman course at Amritsar and later he joined the Indian British Army. During the partition, he came to India and was entrenched at Andretta in Himachal Pradesh known as Kangra Valley where he had painted several paintings renowned as his masterpieces throughout the globe.

I didn’t know exactly , maybe the color contrast and depth of his paintings sprouted my inner art abilities during my early ages of drawing because I often spent my leisure time lying on my bed to watch paintings of Sohni Mahiwal, which was gifted by someone to my parents.

Mr Sobha Singh Painted a wide variety of concepts, landscapes and folktales. His distinguished work of light & shade, detailing brushstrokes, and technique inspire and influence art lovers around
the globe.

During my teaching career, I have planned to go to Himachal Pradesh at Andretta known as Sobha Singh’s Art Gallery which is managed by his daughter. We traveled by train to reach Palampur and stayed overnight, and the next morning planned to go to his museum, we visited, and saw his master paintings of Sikh gurus, Sohni mahiwal, heer ranjha, and many more in his studio. His place of drawing and paintings, chair, and easel, where he painted several paintings was a wonderful experience for me. It not only inspired me but afterwards I started to work more in drawing and painting. I drew and painted several paintings in oil with my handmade canvases. Palampur is also known for tea gardens and is now famous for the Sobha Singh art gallery and museum in the mini village ‘Andretta’. Sobha Singh painted the ‘Sohni Mahiwal’ painting five times in his entire lifetime and used himself as a model for the very first time, using lamplight, and damp clothes to bring the realism of human emotion on the canvas. He is a versatile and old master of India, whatever he has created, is a treasure for generations to generations of art lovers.

His legacy lives on through his paintings, to inspire and connect art lovers with their cultural and spiritual roots, including me. Many people find inspiration from his work, especially in how he created and conveyed the essence of Sikh philosophy and timeless stories in an accurate and impactful way.

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