Murlidhar Sadashiv Joshi was born at Sinnar (Nasik) in Maharashtra in 1912. He committed himself to work on gouaches and aquarelles. His large watercolours rendered on paper and gouache on textured mount board carry a stillness and kinetic energy that invests a rounded volume to the entire composition. This prana, the life force that seems to swell from within the architectural elements of Joshi's paintings reflects an important facet of Indian aesthetics, which the artist instinctively brought into his work. This power to enrich his compositions with a variety of stylistic elements from diverse global sources as well as his known environment lends a stamp of conviction to Joshi's work. Besides his technical virtuosity in handling watercolours and gouache it is the unexpected moody urgency of contrastive energies that enliven his compositions that make Joshi's later work masterful.
The fact is that Joshi struggled throughout his career to infuse the known format of academic realism with an enlivening and empowering imprint of a quirky presence that seemed to have a life of its own. This is best illustrated in Moti Bazaar where startling indigo and turquoise shadows plunge downwards and recede into niches complementing the dancing blue sky. Joshi refused to ignore his cultural roots while assimilating expressionist elements into his work. Instead he let his vaadas speak and move like organic creatures with magical powers in his larger gouache works. The mellow palette that Joshi preferred to use built large architectural surfaces worked with thick pigment layered with broad rhythmic brushstrokes which were broken by touches of jewel colours. Light touched his compositions with mellow intensity. It formed a translucent under layer of radiance that lit his work from within. Inside his cityscapes and landscapes a serene, celebratory ananda, joy, presides over all things. Joshi continued to paint well into his old age, as long as he could hold a brush in his hand.
Born :
Education :
- 1933 - 1936 : G. D. Art from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay
Solo Exhibitions :
- 1982, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971 : Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
- 1975 : Taj Art Gallery
Group Show :
Awards :
- 1990 : Maharashtra Gaurao Paraskar
- 1980, 1979, 1976, 1974 : Raipur Art Exhibition
- 1975, 1973, 1972, 1971 : Rajmundry Art Exhibition
- 1965 : Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore
- 1964 : Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi
- 1963 : Art Society of India
- 1961 to 1981 : Indian Academy of Fine Arts
- 1974 to 1963 : Bombay Art Society
- 1959 to 1966 : Hyderabad Art Society
- 1958 : Hyderabad Art Society
- 1957 to 1963 : All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society
- 1954 to 1973 : Mysore Dasaro Exhibition
Collections :
- Several State museums in India Many prestigious organisations and collectors in India, Japan, Perth, Australia, Nairobi, Moscow, London etc., Founder member & ex- principal of Model Art Institute - Dadar, Bombay
