On the River-Bank

The artist Baburao Painter's large oil painting of a solitary woman strolling by the river's edge at night, a landscape in warm moody chiaroscuro, recalls his school of European academic painting, which he was self-taught in. The woman is depicted in a scene that is somewhat ambiguous; she is wearing a red-colored saree and has a woven basket of produce or greens on her head, with one hand holding a bundle of long stalks or reeds, possibly as a tool for carrying or displaying items. The careful treatment of her expression and her necklace and bangles indicate that Painter was interested in individual character rather than in a generic typology of "peasant," a hallmark of his work that involved realistic renderings of real models and craftsmen he personally knew from working communities in Kolhapur. The scene is set in a rural setting, likely in Maharashtra, with a mix of huts and houses visible in the background on the left side, rolling hills in the upper left corner, a watercourse winding through the landscape, and a dark silhouette of a tree in the upper right corner. The whole tone palette, rich browns, ochres and a wonderful amber sky, gives an introspective, almost film noir atmosphere, which is fitting for the fact that Painter was a very early film maker whose lighting scenes were sometimes quite dramatic and staged. In addition to the mythological scenes which were a staple of Painter's personal (non-cinema) art practice, the painting belongs to the genre of scenes of rural life and labour which he returned to repeatedly, creating work in this genre but few of which are housed in national institutions like the National Gallery.