Prof. Dr. Avinash Kolhe explores how JJ School of Art students captured India’s freedom struggle through rare paintings, revealing political awareness, Gandhi’s influence, Partition, communal violence and the complex emotions of a nation’s birth and history.

Prof. Dr. Avinash Kolhe explores Swaraj: Freedom We Saw, Freedom We Painted, a rare exhibition at Mumbai’s JJ School of Art featuring 43 paintings created by students between the 1940s and late 1960s. Through depictions of Gandhi, the Dandi March, Quit India, Partition, communal violence and the birth of independent India, the exhibition reveals how young artists responded to the political upheavals of their time. The works also raise questions about whose stories of the freedom struggle have been preserved and represented through art.

Artists’ perception of our freedom struggle

Come Independence Day, we have a plethora of activities around us to celebrate this day. But in aamchi Mumbai, J J School of Art [established in 1857. Yes, 1857, the year of the First War of Independence] has recently unveiled a unique exhibition ‘Swaraj: Freedom We Saw, Freedom We Painted’, a collection of paintings by masters like Gaitonde, Jatin Das, Dileep Ranade and many others. All alumni of J J. These paintings were done between the 1940s and 1960s and catch on canvas the birth of a nation and what followed later. The exhibition has 43 rare paintings from the institute’s archives, many displayed publicly for the first time.

These artworks show momentous events like Dandi March, Quit India movement, Partition and the years that followed. This exhibition is largely the idea of Vice-Chancellor Dr. Him Kumar Chatterjee. When he took a close look at the institute’s archives, now a deemed university, he found a large body of artworks based on the freedom movement. These were creations of students of JJ School of Art.

He decided to organize an exhibition of these artworks, which was inaugurated on Monday, 3rd August. The inaugural function was held at the recently restored Dean’s bungalow inside JJ’s campus. This Dean’s bungalow is no ordinary building. This is the place where Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30th, 1865. Many remember his famous poem ‘The Ballad of East and West’, written in 1889, in which he noted ‘East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet’.

JJ School of Art’s Freedom Art

the students of JJ were politically aware and were reacting to the events around them. While many paintings were made as student exercises, artistically too they are remarkable and carry historical significance. And because these artworks were done by the students, many of them are unsigned. Yet, they capture the spirit of that era, the non-violent movement, millions raising their voices against the Raj. Here the viewer will find images of Gandhiji as a symbol of hope, a founder and practitioner of new political philosophy of resistance based on satya and ahimsa. The exhibition has paintings depicting village life, communal violence and the grief that followed Mahatma’s assassination.

Artists’ Views of India’s Freedom Struggle

While enjoying this exhibition one must keep in mind that these are the artworks of students, some of them, like Gaitonde, Jatin Das, Dileep Ranade, made a name later.

I was particularly impressed with the work of Dileep Ranade, an alumnus. Based in Mumbai, he fondly recalled ‘I was a student of JJ from 1966 to 1971. In 1968 there was a competition where the theme was ‘freedom struggle’. I made a pencil drawing showing protest and violence during the Raj years. My drawing included a British soldier crushing the tricolour and a pigeon as a symbol of peace’.

Ranade is perhaps the only artist who saw the bloody side of the freedom movement.

Swaraj Exhibition in Mumbai

Other artworks are rather goody-goody, leaving a pleasant feeling behind. I also observed that the title of exhibition is ‘Swaraj: Freedom we saw, Freedom we painted’, but the artworks displayed have only Mahatma as the symbol of freedom struggle. There is no Nehru, Bose, Patel and the galaxy of other tall leaders. That apart, one must visit the exhibition which will be on till 18 August from 11 am to 6 pm.