Glow of Hope

Glow of Hope, alternately titled "Woman With the Lamp", is a painting by S.L. Haldankar. The work was painted 1945–46 and is currently stored in the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery at the Jaganmohan Palace in Mysore, India.^[1] The painting is currently on display on the second floor of the museum, in an enclave with a curtained window. The enclave is normally darkened, which highlights the subtlety of the glowing candle in the piece. When the light is turned on, the painting reveals remarkably subtle shades of pink and lavender in the woman's sari. Opening the enclave's curtain leads to yet another distinct view of the painting, the natural light exposing even more subtle gradations and details.

The painting shows an Indian woman holding a lighted lamp in one hand, the other hand covering the light of the lamp from the front. The woman is in a simple and traditional Indian saree. The effect of the painting is heightened by the shadow of the woman in the back.

The painting is housed in a special room at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery. It is displayed in an enclave with a curtained window. The enclave is normally darkened, which highlights the subtlety of the lowing candle in the painting. One can see in the dark the hand which is covering the candle — which is the only thing that is giving out light — is glowing very bright red, seems that it is authentic ;her hand really seems to be glowing due to the candle' light. The women who is holding the covered candle is Gita Haldankar (now Gita Krishnakant Uplekar), the third daughter of the artist. She currently lives in Kolhapur. She in 2009 is 90 years of age. She had four daughters and one son (Meena Shertukade, Lali Akojwar, Jyoti Shah, (Sandhya) Sonali Punatar, and Rajprakash Uplekar). The young woman had to stay in the perpetual position for three hours continuously. Furthermore, he made this portrait with watercolours. He used this as his medium because he wanted to show the world that he can make a painting without a single mistake, unlike the oil paint which can be corrected using white paint. The painting is mimetic in approach, with no deliberate distortions.

Composition

The portrait has the sense of depth; when it is seen from a perspective. It does not seem to be a “window of infinity”, we can notice that from the shadow of the damsel captured by the artist. One can say it has a “shallow” picture space but it is not totally flat, it has the sense of realism. The focal point of the picture, which the most important part of the painting, is the hand which has the bright reddish glow, given out by the candle covered by the hand. This happens to be the central focus line in the painting. There are no geometric shapes, no patterns are seen in the painting but there is a sense of balance, the objects are arranged symmetrically. The shape of the picture is vertically elongated.

Techniques

The medium used in the painting is watercolour, and the surface on which it is painted handmade paper. The discipline of the portrait is painting. The paint application is not impasto; but it is glaze, i.e., transparent. There is a wide variety of brushes used in this portrait, from big to small. Both sharp edges as well as smudgy edges for the special effects of the painted subjects and objects. It is painted with great care by brush. The scale of the painting is large for public.

Colour

The colours used in this painting are specific; these are to give the painting a rhythm and an emotional touch. The specific colours such as lavender, yellowish shades, grey, gold, black and lastly green. The lavender colour symbolizes grace and elegance; the yellowish shade represents warmth, confidence, signifies nature and overcoming challenges through unconditional love; grey connotes self-confidence and passion; gold betokens royalty, wealth, and opulence; and lastly green depicts living willfully, eternity, family, harmony, and stability. One can see that there is a tonal range from light to dark. They are not that complementary, they are analogous, demonstrating naturalism. There is no such thing as primary colours or monochrome.

Formal elements

The lines in the painting are neither sharp nor blurry; it is kind of stable. The shapes of the objects are not geometric but are organic. There are no patterns and textures. The shapes are neither complex nor simple, they are harmonized. Well one can say that the texture involved in this painting might be plain; but on seeing it closely it shows realism. The scale is naturalistic i.e. they do not seem to be larger or smaller than usual. This work is one of the kinds and it is not in series. There is no sort of abstractions in this portrait of “glow of hope”.

Significance

The main figure in the portrait is the women in the beautifully elegant saree. She is the metaphor of the painting conveying self-confidence and elegance by holding the candle in her right hands and covering it by the other left hand. The covering it seems to be glowing, even when stored in the dark. It kind of narrates a specific story of self-confidence. There are no direct words to detect the story behind the painting. There are no patterns; but the colours used in this painting have a specific symbol behind it. Well the things are kept in juxtaposition to depict some meaning; in this painting the young damsel is holding the candle and covering it by the other hand betokens overcoming challenges with unconditional love. If we put a light on the placement and the scale of the specific object, e.g., the candle in this case is the centre of attention as it is providing a specific effect of eternal glow.

Theme

The theme of this painting is traditional, not in sense of a festival or cultural; but it is traditional by the means of the way the young lass is wearing a lavender sari. The kind of a personal biography he wanted to show that how powerful he is with his strokes of the brushes and how stable he is with handling a watercolour painting, how he can do the special effects in a painting without a single mistake. During the festival of Diwali, the artist saw his daughter bringing a candle in order to illuminate objects and saw his daughter in a beautiful sari with a background shadow. He then set out to paint this picture.

References

External links

• Glow of Hope painting
• Attribution to Ravi Varma
• Another incorrect attribution to Ravi Varma