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The most popular painter from Punjab, Sobha Singh drew pictures of Sikh Gurus that abide in the hearts of millions.
Subhash Parihar writes about his discovery of the master’s two paintings recently.
Sobha Singh (1901-86) is undoubtedly the most popular painter from Punjab. So much so that for common Punjabis, his very name has become a synonym for the word artist. A number of his works have been reproduced as calendars which adorn the walls of the houses of the devout. However, his most popular works are the pictures of the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev and the 10th Guru Gobind Singh. It was through these two paintings that the artist reached almost each Punjabi home. The pictures of Gurus in people’s hearts are those depicted by Sobha Singh. He can be really called a ‘people’s artist’. In popularity, next to the pictures of the Sikh Gurus comes his painting of the legendary Punjabi lovers Sohni Mahiwal (1948) of which the original is in the collection of Dr Karan Singh of Jammu. In fact, it is the third copy of the work which he first painted in 1944. It may be interesting to note that contrary to the modern practice where each work of art is unique, popular Punjabi painters continued to paint copies of the original on demand. We come across a similar practice in the case of ancient Greek sculptures too. Had Sobha Singh’s all these works not been reproduced as calendars, they would not have enjoyed the fame that they have earned. This is a problem with the art works which go into private collections. Some of them remain totally unknown. Recently I had the chance of discovering two of Sobha Singh’s paintings in the Rajmahal of the erstwhile Faridkot State. The first of these paintings dates from 1934 as inscribed at its bottom under the signatures of the artist. It measures 102 cm by 78 cm. The scene depicts Nurjahan Begum, the favourite queen of Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627), visiting Guru Hargobind (1606-24). It is a pyramidal composition with the head of the Guru at the apex. The dark figure in the right hand corner provides contrast to the pearl-like complexion of the Guru and the queen and her companions. On the right hand side of the Guru is perched his baz or hawk. The only visible source of light in the painting is the little flames perched on the head of a moulded serpent figure. But it appears that the whole scene radiates with the light from the Guru’s face. This paining was also reproduced as a calendar but its prints were sealed following a protest from the Muslims in 1935. At least one more version of this scene was painted by the artist. It can be seen in the book Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, published from Lahore. But here, it is wrongly labelled as "Guru Gobind Singh receiving a visit from NoorJehan". In fact, Nurjahan had already died, aged 72, in 1645 whereas Guru Gobind Singh was born in 1666, 21 years later. The second painting was executed a year later, in 1935. It measures 100 cm by 79 cm. It is a landscape of snow-clad mountains, peaks of which are lit by soft warm light of the rising sun. The dark rocks in the foreground imbue the scene with depth. It depicts the nature and only nature without any human figure. At the time when these two pictures were painted, Sobha Singh, in his mid-thirties, was living in Delhi where he had migrated from Lahore in 1931. Here he had set his studio in the Connaught Place and had great success as a commercial artist. His most famous paintings of Guru Nanak or Sohni Mahiwal etc. were yet to be created.
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