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GREATER JAMMU
LET'S KNOW JAMMU
MADHAV SHARMA
Late Gobind Kour: A name Bringing ‘Expressions’ Alive in Stone
Barring artists very few Jammuites might be knowing about 'Gobind Kour' who was a contemporary
of leading artists of the state. Her works remain in the limelight during art exhibitions and have received the due recognition to which these should have for ushering in a new sensibility in art spheres.
A woman's perspective, that was uniquely her own, was Gobind kour's seminal contribution to art and her attempt to express the things as they are perceived by an artist and the common person and then
bringing the same to reality.She found a niche for her in the visual art which earlier as a matter of practice has remained a male domain. Breaking the traditions, late Gobind Kour tried her hands in the field of sculpture which till recent times made use of traditional media such as metal, stone and
wood and was considered as an activity demanding great manual work required in any other
labour intensive profession.Her significance infact lies not only being the first lady sculptor in this region of J&K but to remain steadfastly committed to chosen vocation till her last breadth when she
joined the lotus feet of All Mighty in tragic road accident in August, 2011. Coming from a lower middle
class family, Gobind Kaur born in 1954, from childhood had showed inclination towards drawing. She associated herself in early 1970's as a hobby student with the Institute of Music and FineArts, Jammu. She then enrolled in diploma course and later when the same was upgraded to a full-fledged graduate level course affiliated to the University of Jammu in 1974, joined the degree course in fine arts. In the beginning, her personal style was influenced by her teacher and guide V R Khajuria, who was eminent
sculptor of the country and known for non-figurative abstract sculptures wherein interplay of convex and concave surfaces offered to the viewers a unique aesthetic experience.
Pertinent to mention Gobind Kaur's early works were shadow and reflections of somewhat the conventional expressions in stone and wood and ideally suited for enclosed gallery spaces.However like other artists, it did not take here long to come out of the influence of her teacher's style and forge her own style and found herself
experiencing with figurative, especially the portrait style. She always liked to give life to the child hood dreams and her works as the bust and portraits of young children and her little monk series, were the
reflections that she had in her mind for the life.Such works under the feminist readings come out as symbolic rendering of newly found freedom to females in the modern times. "During an artistic career
spanning more than 30 years, she won many national and state level awards, participated in number of solo-and group shows including national and international exhibitions and artist camps and workshops,
recalled her husband Jagan Singh Verman who also is an established and acknowledged artist. He fondly remembering from his cherished memories said, " Being an artist teacher she was always looking towards innovative compositions." She was a silent worker with ever helping nature,
was bestowed with a gentle and calm temperament, he said adding, "the spiritual ideology and thinking seemed to bestow upon her a unique insight that seemed to also pervade her aesthetics works.
"It was due to her spirit of adventure that she worked in multiple media, which included brass, terracotta, wood and stone. But especially noticeable is her love for stone where she carved large stone blocks only to transform those into unique aesthetics constructs, he evoked. Meanwhile national repute
artist and painter Harsh Vardhan, when asked about the late first women sculpturist told Gobind Kaur's expression was not limited to sculpture only. "She also indulged in graphic print making, which is
normally considered as the sole preserve of painters”, he added.
Late Gobind Kour: A name bringing ‘expressions’ alive in stone
By Madhav Sharma
GREATER JAMMU
LET'S KNOW JAMMU
MADHAV SHARMA
Late Gobind Kour: A name Bringing ‘Expressions’ Alive in Stone
Barring artists very few Jammuites might be knowing about 'Gobind Kour' who was a contemporary
of leading artists of the state. Her works remain in the limelight during art exhibitions and have received the due recognition to which these should have for ushering in a new sensibility in art spheres.
A woman's perspective, that was uniquely her own, was Gobind kour's seminal contribution to art and her attempt to express the things as they are perceived by an artist and the common person and then
bringing the same to reality.She found a niche for her in the visual art which earlier as a matter of practice has remained a male domain. Breaking the traditions, late Gobind Kour tried her hands in the field of sculpture which till recent times made use of traditional media such as metal, stone and
wood and was considered as an activity demanding great manual work required in any other
labour intensive profession.Her significance infact lies not only being the first lady sculptor in this region of J&K but to remain steadfastly committed to chosen vocation till her last breadth when she
joined the lotus feet of All Mighty in tragic road accident in August, 2011. Coming from a lower middle
class family, Gobind Kaur born in 1954, from childhood had showed inclination towards drawing. She associated herself in early 1970's as a hobby student with the Institute of Music and FineArts, Jammu. She then enrolled in diploma course and later when the same was upgraded to a full-fledged graduate level course affiliated to the University of Jammu in 1974, joined the degree course in fine arts. In the beginning, her personal style was influenced by her teacher and guide V R Khajuria, who was eminent
sculptor of the country and known for non-figurative abstract sculptures wherein interplay of convex and concave surfaces offered to the viewers a unique aesthetic experience.
Pertinent to mention Gobind Kaur's early works were shadow and reflections of somewhat the conventional expressions in stone and wood and ideally suited for enclosed gallery spaces.However like other artists, it did not take here long to come out of the influence of her teacher's style and forge her own style and found herself
experiencing with figurative, especially the portrait style. She always liked to give life to the child hood dreams and her works as the bust and portraits of young children and her little monk series, were the
reflections that she had in her mind for the life.Such works under the feminist readings come out as symbolic rendering of newly found freedom to females in the modern times. "During an artistic career
spanning more than 30 years, she won many national and state level awards, participated in number of solo-and group shows including national and international exhibitions and artist camps and workshops,
recalled her husband Jagan Singh Verman who also is an established and acknowledged artist. He fondly remembering from his cherished memories said, " Being an artist teacher she was always looking towards innovative compositions." She was a silent worker with ever helping nature,
was bestowed with a gentle and calm temperament, he said adding, "the spiritual ideology and thinking seemed to bestow upon her a unique insight that seemed to also pervade her aesthetics works.
"It was due to her spirit of adventure that she worked in multiple media, which included brass, terracotta, wood and stone. But especially noticeable is her love for stone where she carved large stone blocks only to transform those into unique aesthetics constructs, he evoked. Meanwhile national repute
artist and painter Harsh Vardhan, when asked about the late first women sculpturist told Gobind Kaur's expression was not limited to sculpture only. "She also indulged in graphic print making, which is
normally considered as the sole preserve of painters”, he added.
Late Gobind Kour: A name bringing ‘expressions’ alive in stone
By Madhav Sharma
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