B Vithal
Modern
B. Vithal’s (1935-1992) story is entwined with that of his wife and fellow artist B.Prabha. In an interview from 1987 in the Sunday Observer, Vithal narrated that when they their first exhibition in 1956, all his sculptures in wood were sold, but none of Prabha’s sold and she cried bitterly, because Prabha has been selling her works even as student and she was a brilliant student at JJ School, Mumbai. Now, Prabha was the love of his life, and Vithal took a vow that he would not sell his works till he managed to achieve Rs.10,000 for her works and this was in 1956! From then on, he became her manager and mentor and achieved the target he set and some more! If we look at his life we will understand the roots of his grit.
Vithal Badwelgar, or B. Vithal as he was popularly known, was born in Warda, a small village in Nagpur district, Maharashtra in 1935. As a child drawing and making clay idols of Ganesha consumed him, he was good at it though his family didn’t approve of it and his father would punish him, so much so that at the age of ten he ran away to Mumbai. He did odd jobs and struggled but he didn’t give up, and only returned when his elder brother found him and dragged him back home. He would return to the city when he enrolled in Sir J J School of Art. He was not a brilliant student, but he had the determination to study, and moreover the love of his life Prabha whom he had met in Nagpur was already studying there. In 1956, soon after completing his course, he married Prabha, though their financial condition remained rather precarious!
When Vithal started his career in in the mid 1950’s, life for an artist was difficult, so took to painting sign boards, decoration for wedding pandals, stage back drops, any odd jobs that could earn him some money. As an artist he gained from this experience – developing the ability create work in any medium. Though there are no extant examples available, Vithal created glass sculptures in 1971. His versatility as an artist was bolstered on canvas, since working on canvas was cheaper than casting in metal or working in stone!
But it is Ganesha, where Vithal shows a remarkable single-minded steadfastness. In Vithal’s hands the deity takes a sinuous form, he incorporates a modern sensibility without losing the attributes of the deity in translation. This ability to remain true to the subject comes from his robust training at the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, which he had studied sculpture. At J J the emphasis was on academic study, with live model studies being de rigueur, and the classes are filled with plaster casts of Classical Greek sculptures. Therefore, someone like Vithal who was drawing from a young age, thrived in the ambience – developing a keen sensibility and understanding of form. In addition, the formal training at JJ also imbued in him a sense of monumentality, regardless of the actual size or scale of the work. Some of the other subjects that Vithal painted and sculpted include: horses, nudes, mother and child, and bulls.
Vithal’s sculptures can be found in NGMA, New Delhi, as well as the Air India collection. in fact he, along with B Praba, did site specific works for Air India’s offices in Melbourne in 1961. His sculpture of birds stands 8 meters tall in Horniman circle Mumbai. He exhibited bronze sculptures in Pundole art gallery, Mumbai in 1985.
Vithal, who lived and worked in Mumbai, passed away in 1992.
