OUT OF OBSCURITY...

You know those obscure (often unavailable and out-of-print) picture books you read as a child over and over again? The ones that delighted and stayed with you over the years - and sometimes still haunt you when you can't think of the title!

THE SHEEP OF THE LAL BAH, by David Mark, illustrated by Lionel Kalish (published in 1967) was one of my favorites. Happily, my parents saved it and I was able to read it with my own children. The good news is, if you google this particular out-of-print book, you're more than likely to find it available online.

A sheep named Ramesh was the "lawn mower" for a big park named Lal Bagh, "in a little city in the heart of India".

Hard working people from miles around came to visit the beautiful park. "They came to see the big white petals of the lotus flowers opening and closing in the pond. And the rubbery plants and stickly plants and curly plants in the glass house..."

On holidays Ramesh mowed the grass in very special patterns.

The women came and rubbed his head. Children took rides on his back.

But one day, the forward thinking mayor decides the city needs a modern machine to make the people feel proud of their city.

Ramesh leaves and the people stop coming to the park (because you can't climb on a machine's back and ask it for a ride!)

You'll have to get the book to find out where they find Ramesh and how they get him to come back.

Lionel Kalish"s detailed illustrations and David Mark's descriptive text made me feel, as a young child, like I was visiting India...

I was reminded of this obscure picture book about India recently when I read that New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is bringing to light some obscure artists of that country in the exhibit, “Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India 1100-1900”, which is at the MET from September 28th until January 8th, 2012. (Photo source: HERE)

“Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on his Return from the Mewar Campaign”
By Balchand, 1635
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, 11 15/16 by 7 15/16 inches

I read in THE ECONOMIST - "This is the first time that an exhibition of this scale has concentrated on particular artists, their families and ateliers, rather than on the regions of India or particular patrons and rulers. The Met show begins with examples of the earliest surviving portable images in Indian art. Between the 12th and 16th centuries these manuscript illustrations, painted on palm leaves, were miniaturised versions of the vast murals that decorated Jain and Buddhist monasteries. The images, painted in flat, primary colours, are often the only surviving visual record of those murals."

“Rao Jagat Singh of Kota at Ease in a Garden”
Attributed to Hada Master, 1660
Opaque watercolor on paper, 10 5/8 by 6 15/16 inches

Obscure? "The scholars found signatures embedded in many paintings just waiting for someone to take the trouble to look. More often, connoisseurship was their tool. This combination of a good eye, intelligence and intuition, combined with long experience of looking at Indian art, led to the identification of dozens of artists. Links between generations have become clear, as have the influence of brother upon brother, the place of an artist in an atelier, the travels from one court to another and the influence of imported European art."