Collection Of Illustrations
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One hour per day of study in your chosen field is all it takes.
One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years.
Within five years you will be a national authority.
In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.
Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years.
Within five years you will be a national authority.
In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.
Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
This was an often-mentioned remark about the initial years in the career of the accomplished and acclaimed artist and illustrator Bapu.
It is also reflected in the considerable volume of his published work in the pages of the Telugu books and magazines of those years collected and presented here now.
Long hours of sketching and freehand drawing marked his days in those initial years. The reader-appeal of his published work quickly set high standards during those years while Bapu’s illustrations reached a large number of Telugu homes with these stories and magazines. These illustrations established Bapu’s standing among the Telugu reading public as an outstanding artist, illustrator and cartoonist. For the next five decades his cartoons and illustrations continued to sustain and enhance that reputation and set even higher standards.
The magazines themselves were changing and gaining larger and wider circulation during those years and the readership was becoming more inclusive. More story-writers were forthcoming. Many of them achieved acclaim in that period and went on to publish books and novels on their own. Economies of scale made it feasible for the magazines to carry more illustrations and adopt advanced printing methods without becoming pricey. The weekly issue of about 60 pages of the Telugu magazine ‘Andhrapatrika’ was priced at 4 Annas (25 Nayapaise) in those days and the publisher claimed a high subscription-paying readership and nation-wide circulation. In quick time, Bapu’s illustrations and cartoons achieved both critical and popular acclaim of a high order.
Books and magazines of that period gave us a wealth of fascinating content that is still remembered and read today. Bapu’s illustrations and cartoons are a unique and prominent part of that cherished legacy.
On 22nd July, 1962, “Seven Stars Syndicate”, Vidyanagar, Hyderabad organised an exhibition (at Raja Bahaddur Venkataramareddi Women’s College) of Bapu’s illustrations in appreciation of this phenomenon and to celebrate the accomplishments of the path-breaking ‘commercial’ artist - “Andhrula Abhimaana Chitrakarudu Bapu” - as the media has referred to him ever since.
B.A.V.Sandilya, A.Kameswararao, Sista Jagannadham, U.Sreenivasarao, V.Ch.S.R.Murthi, G.Satyanarayana Raju, B.Gowri Shankar and G.Ramakrishna were the key persons involved in organising the exhibition. Madapati Hanumantharao, Dr.Boorgula Ramakrishnarao and Alapaati Venkatramayya were among the eminent people present at the event.
Its success inspired a ‘sequel’, a 5-day-exhibition of Bapu’s illustrations, at Vijayawada in January 1963.
In the e-book above, we present, in chronological order, several illustrations from those early years of the artist. Details of their first appearance in print and the context of the illustrations are furnished alongside for enhanced appreciation. The illustrations in this collection originally appeared in Telugu magazines and books of those years and could all have been on display at the exhibition mentioned above.
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of that landmark event we attempted a replication of the event in Chennai on 22nd July, 2022 and held an exhibition of some of these illustrations. The exhibits had to be created from clippings from old issues of magazines or copies thereof since the original art work is not available today. This collection here today (and others to follow) is a fortuitous extended benefit of those efforts.
The difficulties we faced in creating the exhibits brought home to us the realisation that some of these illustrations from that remarkable period of Telugu magazines could soon be lost for future generations. Most of those magazines are not being published now and the publishing houses have shut down. The illustrations and related details need to be gathered and preserved for the greater appreciation of the work of this unique Telugu artist. The presence of this collection here on this website is our effort to that end. This effort will continue. We hope to be able to add more pages to these first collections and present more collections of subsequent years also.
These collections here are intended for the on-line-viewing of art-enthusiasts and admirers of Bapu’s art of illustration. The images, illustrations, cartoons and artwork are copyrighted material and are not to be copied, downloaded, printed, distributed or shared in any social media platform, reproduced or used in any manner for any purpose.
Bapu Family
Chennai, October 2023
Chennai, October 2023
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