Those who went to see Series of Wounds: Somnath Hore — A Centenary Exhibition — it was held at Emami Art (June 19-July 24) and curated by K.S. Radhakrishnan — may have felt that they had been led up the garden path for a majority of the works on display were photocopies, albeit high quality ones. There were no sculptures, only photographs of some well-known pieces. It is true that there was a huge display of Hore’s prints, but overall it was like eating sugar-free sandesh — almost like the real thing, but not quite.

The rich variety of Hore’s work is breathtaking. The early oil painting of a pubescent nude with a sari-clad woman behind her on a verandah is rather curious in its sunlit colours. Human beings are fated to suffer pain and violence. So epic battles are fought in this killing field as machetes are raised and humans jump at each other’s throats. Viragoes fight off marauding men — one can easily read the struggle of Durga against the asuras here. The stiff male member becomes the source of brute force. There is an unmistakable element of eroticism in this brutality.

Pain is embodied in the figures of skeletal human beings who became victims of the manmade famine. The oil paintings are rareties. The chicken seller is a feature-less man with a beard and he holds his helpless victims in his hand (picture, right). Ferocity inheres in the animal world too. Vultures and feral dogs fight over and feast on human flesh. We see Hore evolving from an artist with an obvious political message to one whose aesthetics approached abstraction even when figuration was involved. He violently distorts lines till a visage turns into a caricature. There is an entire series of works where the bold brush strokes make a statement in themselves.

Yet, amidst all this conflict, there are visions of sheer beauty — the beautiful face of a woman emerges from the shadows. A white rose blooms in darkness (picture, left).