He specialises in bronze statues
Anjali Mahajan

HE is a young, budding artist of Shimla who has carved a niche for himself in the field of bronze statue-making. He is Sunil Dutt Gautam who is working as a lecturer in the sculpture department at Kotsherra Government College in Shimla.

Hailing from Dehra village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, Sunil completed his masters degree in fine arts from the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, where he topped. After clearing an all-India competition, he joined the famous Santiniketan University in West Bengal in 1995 for acquiring higher skills in the field of fine arts.

At Santiniketan, he learnt the art of making statues from materials like wood, stone, plaster, earth and cement. He developed a fancy for making statues from different types of metals and he decided to specialise in the art of bronze statue-making.

During his stay at Santiniketan, he got an opportunity to work under the guidance of renowned sculptors like Jogan Chaudhary, Sharbari Roy Chaudhary, Sushen Gosh, Shiv Kumar and K.G. Subramanyam. Sunil says that he learnt the finer points of the art of metal-melting and statue-casting from teachers like Vipin Goswamy, who had received training in Italy, Pankaj Panwar, who got his education from the Royal College of Arts, London, and Jogan Chaudhary, Principal of Santiniketan.

Sunil’s work was noticed when he prepared a life-size bronze statue of a former minister of Himachal Pradesh, Daulat Ram Sankhyan, which was recently put up near the circuit house in Changar village in Bilaspur district of HP and was unveiled by the state health minister, J.P. Nadda. This was the first time that a metal statue had been made by a Himachali and that too in a matter of 60 days.

Thereafter, the government of Himachal Pradesh asked Sunil to make a statue of Maj Somnath Sharma, posthumous awardee of Param Vir Chakra. This statue was installed at Palampur in Kangra district and was unveiled by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on November 3 last. At present, Sunil is working on a full-size statue of Maharana Pratap on horseback, which the Himachal government proposes to install on August 15 this year at the Maharana Pratap Sagar of Pong Dam project in Himachal. Apart from this he is also making statues of Lt Hari Singh from Chopal area of Shimla district, of former minister Jagdev Chand and of General Jorawar Singh, who hailed from Palampur.

When asked about his dream project, this soft-spoken and down-to-earth artist said he wanted to make bronze statues of Kailash Chand Mahajan, a renowned engineer and a former Chairman of HP State Electricity Board and of Lal Chand Prarthi, a former state minister and a well-known poet of Kulu, from whom he got inspiration and whose stature and service to Himachal Pradesh impressed him greatly.

Besides making statues, Sunil can also play the tabla, dholki and sitar with ease. He has also received training in Kathakali. He also likes to read books on art and literature. He says that his parents encouraged him to pursue this career. His wife, Sheetal, helps him in making statues.

Disclosing his future plans, he said he would like to write a book on Himachal’s culture, heritage and traditions and set up a studio and a school for teaching fine arts. He also wants to work on Picasso, exquisite woodcarvings of Himachal temples and castles. He says that patience, dedication and hard work are some of the characteristics of a good sculptor.

He also expressed his desire to carry out research on the sculptures found in the famous and historical temples at Hatkoti village in Shimla district and at Chhatrari village in Chamba district. He wants to learn more about the techniques adopted and the material used for making these sculptures.