KOCHI: Pointy strokes mark the walls of Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Kochi, where Abu’s World, an exhibition to mark the centenary of revered cartoonist and journalist Abu Abraham is currently underway.
Over 300 original artworks of his are on display here — from cartoons and caricatures to sketches. Each is a window, a glimpse into the past, of a young and independent India, its earliest political landscape.
Abu’s mastery is laid bare in every line. Each frame is a sharp satirical lens that captures the irony of the day, the lives and realities of the commoner; a keen observation that knew no borders. With each frame also comes alive the life of Attupurathu Mathew Abraham (Abu) and his four-decade-spanning illustrious career.
The exhibition materialised by way of his two daughters — Janaki and Ayisha, who had meticulously preserved his works. They were also joined by noted cartoonist E P Unny, whose remarks are displayed at the gallery: “Abu kept his caricature fluid enough to match the political flux. He didn’t stick to stock caricaturing. This was exceptionally hard given the endless range of India’s political faces. He improvised.”
His career was in tandem with that of Indira Gandhi, who took charge as prime minister in 1966, a couple of years before Abu returned to India after stints at the Observer and The Guardian in London. He was Indira’s most fierce critic, especially during the Emergency. This tumultuous period witnessed some of his best works.
Politics was a mainstay of the late Indian Express cartoonist, so much so that his daughters, Janaki and Ayisha thought that the knowledge of Indian polity was commonplace. “We thought everyone was aware of these things — the political rigmarole, the global tensions, and such,” says Ayisha, a renowned artist herself.
“He used to read at least five papers in the morning,” recalls Janaki, who is a professor at the Delhi School of Economics. “Later, magazines and TV news were part of this routine. All could see how stressed he was some days in poignantly and pointedly transferring his thoughts on the day’s issues. However, he refused to miss even a day,” she says.
The sisters remember Abu’s love for animals too. “When he moved to Thiruvananthapuram, he kept a goat. He also had pigeons, fish and hens. He loved animals,” Janaki says.
This love for the voiceless is reflected in his cartoons as well. Elephants, cranes, crows, and cows… they were all characters in his works. Sometimes, human figures morph into animal forms. Unny mentions this in his exhibition note: “Big newsmaker transmogrified into bird, animal, fruit and flowers. This cosmetic surgery was performed most gently.”
The people behind the exhibition carefully selected the works to connect with contemporary India and the world at large. “From elections, party politics, the Emergency, wars, and the Israel-Palestine conflict, the frames in the exhibition reflect the modern world,” says Ayisha.
Abu held a fine mirror to the political realities of his time without succumbing to any party ideology. And he did that with ease and with minimal, yet expressive strokes. “Even the eyes of his characters are bubbling with emotion. This quality is precisely what has helped him connect so widely with the masses,” says Kerala Lalithakala Akademi chairman Murali Cheeroth.
MASTER STROKE
Now, to honour the celebrated cartoonist, Kerala Lalithakala Akademi will display a selection of Abu’s works permanently at an art building being constructed at Chengannur in Alappuzha.