Landscapee painting in Barodaa

Howw Landscapee painting in Barodaa and other parts of Gujaratt has developed over the yearss.

SoOMEHOW, LANDSCAPEe PAINTING NEVER REALLY CAUGHT ON IN BARODAa
Most artists have done landscapes at some point or the other during their careers but few have pursued it with passion and out of deliberate choice. Well-regarded teacher-painters, U. P. Rao and N. S. Bendre, did paint numerous landscapes; in fact, in the late 1980s, the Baroda-based corporate group, IPCL, commissioned N.S. Bendre to paint six landscapes related to their new plant coming up in Nagothane. These works, made in the pointillist technique that Bendre was quite fond of, graced the calendar that IPCL brought out in 1989. Perhaps, this was the last major body of work that Bendre did before he passed away. Though Bendre was singularly adept at different 'kinds' of painting, the only shishya he left behind (where landscapes were concerned) was Vinod Shah.
Vinod Shah was already 'doing' landscapes as a schoolboy in Rajkot. He attended painting classes conducted by one Maganbhai Trivedi who was originally from Karachi but who had relocated to Rajkot after Partition. Trivedi taught at the Saurashtra Chitra Shala, an institute that prepared students for Elementary and Intermediate Drawing exams. Other youngsters with Shah were Sanat Thaker, Ashwin Vyas, and Manhar Makwana, who became popular painters in Gujarat later in their lives. Landscapes, still-lifes, and portraits were the main 'topics' taught at the Saurashtra Chitra Shala. Shah came to Baroda in 1955 to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.U, and in his second year, was exposed to N.S.Bendre and his style of teaching/painting watercolours. Bendre's influence was so strong and exhilarating that landscapes and still lifes became the foci of Shah's artistic endeavours.