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| Joshi (?)Bungalow, BCL Lane, Deccan |
I go to the British Council Library on some weekends. My father is a member. It’s near Deccan Gymkhana. I was early and walked up the lane next to it to see what lay ahead. Two apartment buildings were undergoing a facelift. They will become business hotels. And in one lot was this crumbling bungalow. Must be from the early 1940’s or maybe even older. I sat on a concrete pipe and drew it. Light drizzle of rain.
Later at the British Council Library I scored. They were having a booksale. Books that have now been worn out and are
being withdrawn and some “slow movers”.
Guess what was moving slow? A Three volume set of
Cunninghams Oxford press Manual of Practical Human Anatomy! A very good anatomy reference for my
collection. I have been trying to learn
basic human anatomy to draw figures reasonably accurately. Vastus
Medius is an extensor. Really. An exciting moment in my life.
What was worn? “Secret Knowledge”. A very good quality art book by David Hockney. It’s his thesis that a lot of artists just after the 1500’s started using optics to help them draw. They would use mirrored lenses to create an image on a paper as reference and then use that as basis of human portraits. Ingres, Vermeer, are amongst the artists he thinks used such aids. A very controversial book. Even I was not sure I wanted to hear that those artists were ‘copying’ . Buts it’s a good read. And has some really good reproductions of many famous art works.
Also purchased: “History of British Art” ( Blah.). And a good book by Metcalfe about Colonial architecture. It’s interesting reading about many of the old British era buildings one sees in India. All in all a grand total of INR 450. Or About USD 9. Amitabh’s a winner. And the sweet librarian lady now thinks I’m a medical doctor.
