Ramesh Chandra Sathi
An Online Art Gallery
Ramesh Chandra Sathi
An Online Art Gallery
Meet the artist
An Artist, an explorer and a family man
Ramesh Chandra Sathi (1922-2019) is a world renowned artist who hails from India and lived in US since 1997. Born in the Pilibhit district of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Mr. Sathi obtained his primary education in Lakhimpur, UP and then moved to Lucknow, UP, for his education in Fine Arts. After completing his bachelors in Fine Arts from the Government College of Fine Arts and Craft, he decided to hone his skills as a free lance artist.
Mr. Sathi was really fascinated by the beauty of nature and wanted to depict it in his paintings. He traveled all over the Himalayas, trekking over difficult terrain to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Gaumukh, Badrinath, Kedarnath, and all the way to Satopath. He visited the state of Rajasthan with its beautiful palatial cities, unique villages and towns, and breathtaking desert landscapes. He also had the chance to visit the wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and the dangerously beautiful ghats of river Narmada in Balaghat, MP.
During these travels, he painted hundreds of paintings and held numerous exhibitions, in Mussoorie, Delhi, Lucknow, and Jaipur. In 1954, he started an arts institution named "Tarangini" in Lucknow where he had a studio and taught painting . He was also commissioned to create large murals for the Lucknow Secretariat based on his designs from Dhamek stupa which are on display in the lobby there.
There are many facets of Mr. Ramesh Chandra Sathi– the artist, the explorer, and the family man. There are many sub dimensions to each of these personalities. As an artist, he works in many media – Oil, Tempra, Water color, Pastel, Sanjhi, Etching, Batik, Tie-dye, Appliqué, and many more. He picks diverse subjects, including indian mythology, on the spot landscapes, portraits, cultural murals, and folklore, to name a few. He blends many eastern and western art styles including wash style, classical indian miniature painting, and impressionism. As an explorer, he has traveled widely, scaling to heights above 17,000 feet in the Himalayas as well as visiting many countries on four different continents, mixing with a number of cultures and sub cultures. As a family man, he has been a great influence not only on his relatives, but has also cultivated family-like ties with a number of friends. During his first trip to the US, his grand-daughter Kinji named him “Papap”. By now, a large number of Indian kids who interacted with him in Denver call him Papap. Of all the family nick names, this is the most common, in addition to Mr. Sathi, Dad, and Ramesh.
The portrait on the left was created by Dr. Shaukat.
Landscapes
Mr. Sathi worked a number of years, as a freelance artist in New Delhi and Lucknow, while traveling extensively in Himalayas, including Sikkim, Kalingpong, Darjeeling, Kashmir, Kumaon, and so on. He traveled all the way up to a height of 17,000 ft. Though the Himalayan mountains were far less accessible at that time, he took the first opportunities in his teens to visit and begin painting landscapes. He was the first renaissance artist in India to work in nature, and he pulled any forms he could find in nature. A compulsive sketcher, nothing escaped his interest from the tiniest leaf to panoramic landscapes and he reduced all these into a handy mnemonic code. Stored in his mind, these codes swelled back to full rhythm and proportion within the purposes whenever he wanted.
Click here for some of his famous landscapes of different Indian and US mountains.
People
Mr. Sathi has also created paintings of many different people - both real and imaginary. Each painting reflected not only the artist but the associated costumes providing cultural aspects of that region.
Decorative Arts
India is famous for assembling art in daily life. Art is thought in house hold as part of daily life, specifically during festive seasons, when family members use decorative colors / rice flour to paint walls or floor. Mr. Sathi has created many decorative items to teach decoration during festive seasons, marriages and many important occasions in a family.
Florals
Mr. Sathi had a large collection of flowers in his garden. He collected tube roses from all over the world and studied them for his paintings. His flower paintings were the first ones to be purchased by a handful of art admirers - retired British citizen who settled in India after India's independence. Most of his florals were done in pastels.
Sanjhi and Woodworks
Sanjhi Art is a truly unique craft form that features exquisite designs and intricate picture motifs, cut into paper. Sanjhi art is the traditional art of stenciling from Mathura, Krishna’s hometown. Known for its inherent spiritual implications that reach beyond immediate aesthetic appeal, it is considered to be one of the finest arts of spiritual expression. The art grew in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the walls and floors of temples were decorated with Sanjhi motifs. The term Sanjhi is derived from the Hindi word sandhya, the period of dusk with which the art form is typically associated. The art depicts Indian mythological stories in numerous forms, with a predominant focus on Krishna’s Leela.
Craftsmen use specially designed scissors to accomplish this process. Ramesh has extensively used Sanjhi to depict Krishna and various Indian forms. Let’s take a look at some of his Sanjhi work.
Citations and Memories
Most of the citations and photos were lost as he moved from India to US. Here are some that we managed to salvage.