Delhi Silpi Chakra: Down My Memory Lane
F-19, Shankar Market, the space that is now locked once breathed art, music and witnessed creative innovations. Jagdish Dey chronicles this journey of the Delhi Silpi Chakra.
In the late forties a group of Delhi artists gave a serious thought to creating a place where they could sit and discuss their creative activities. Prof. Bhabesh Chandra Sanyal took the lead along with some eminent artists and close friends. After a lot of effort and persuasion, NDMC agreed to give them a place, thus F-19, First floor, Shankar Market became the address of ‘Delhi Silpi Chakra’.
B.C. Sanyal, Kanwal Krishna, Devyani Krishna, K.C. Aryan, Pran Nath Mago, Dinkar Kowshik, Jaya Appaswamy, K.S. Kulkarni, Harkrishan Lall, Satish Gujral, Ram Kumar & Amarnath Sehgal became the earliest members of Delhi Silpi Chakra. With the efforts of these and other members, Delhi Silpi Chakra soon became an iconic institution in the artist community not only in Delhi but all over India.
In 1949, Delhi Silpi Chakra held its first exhibition at Masonic Lodge at Janpath. The NGMA (National Gallery of Modern Art) also sponsored an important exhibition of the members of Delhi Silpi Chakra. This exhibition being a very important event of the Delhi Silpi Chakra was curated by Pran Nath Mago. This exhibition had many members associated with the group displaying their work. The youngest of them was Rajesh Mehra, who later became the Secretary and Chairman of the Delhi Silpi Chakra.
I came to Delhi in May 1958 from a small town called Pandu in Assam. I came here with a dream of becoming an artist and took admission at the School of Art, Delhi Polytechnic at Kashmiri Gate. Professor Bhabesh Sanyal was the Head of the Art department at the time. His department was adorned by eminent artists and teachers of the time like Sailoz Mookherjea, Dhanraj Bhagat, Dinkar Kowshik, Sankho Chaudhuri, Jaya Appaswamy, Somnath Hore, Rajesh Mehra, K. K. Sen, Madan Roy & Jagmohan Chopra. 