G. Kamble

Gopal Balwant Kamble (22 July 1918 – 21 July 2002) was an Indian painter known for painting Bollywood movie posters and realist portraits of people from Maharashtra.

G. Kamble
Born
Gopal Balwant Kamble

(1918-07-22)22 July 1918
Kolhapur, Kolhapur State, India
Died21 July 2002(2002-07-21) (aged 83)
Educationself-taught
Known forFilm poster/Illustrations, Portrait painting/Oil painting, Wall-painting
MovementRealism (for portraits)
AwardsKolhapur Bhushan Purskar[1]

Early life

Kamble was born on 22 July 1918 in the Mangalwar Peth neighborhood of Kolhapur city, then part of the princely Kolhapur State.[1][2] He was born in a poor Hindu Khatik family.[3]

Career

Movie posters

Kamble could not pursue traditional technical education in arts due to financial constraints and started learning poster painting in Kolhapur at the Hans talkies and as an unpaid intern at the Cinetone studios.[4] He considered Italian painter Fortunino Matania to be his role model.[4] He moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) in the 1930s to start working in film industry.[5] He received assignments from movie studios to paint promotional posters. In the beginning he painted movie posters for Ranjit Studios, The Bombay Talkies Studios, Gemini Studios (Madras), National Studios, Prabhat Film Company, and the Film City, Mumbai.

V. Shantaram, the foremost film maker of era, invited Kamble to work for his Rajkamal Kalamandir studio.[6][7][8]

In the times before TV and radio, movie promotion was highly dependent on the appealing colourful posters by Kamble and his posters were successful and highly appreciated all over India.[3] Kamble painted movie posters for hit films including Do Aankhen Barah Haath (for which he produced a 350-ft banner at Bombay's Opera House in 1957), Amar Bhoopali, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, Navrang, Shakuntala Apna Desh, Sehra, Toofan Aur Deeya, Bhakticha Mala, and Geet Gaya Patharon Ne.[6][9] He was also responsible for painting posters for the iconic Hindi movie Mughal-e-Azam.[5][6][10]

Portraits

After some time in movie industry, Kamble turned his focus to drawing personal portraits of prominent people. Kamble's portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji was accepted by the government of Maharashtra as the official portrait in the 1970s, but he received flak from reformer Madhavrao Bagal for asserting that his portrait of Shivaji was based upon a divine vision.[11][12] His portrait of Shahu of Kolhapur was utilized to recreate the likeness for commemorative postal stamp in 1979.[13]

He painted prominent social reformers and politicians Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Jyotirao Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, JFK, Rabindranath Tagore, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lata Mangeshkar.[1] Some of his paintings are on permanent display in the Kailashgarhchi Sawari Mandir (temple) in Kolhapur.[14][15]

Selected works

Death

Kamble died on 21 July 2002.[1] A Kolhapur street near his house was named after him.[4] In 2013, his descendants announced they were planning to erect an art gallery to showcase his work and requested financial support from the government.[16]

References
  1. "देवाच्या चित्राचे पैसे घेत नसतात, छत्रपतींचं तैलचित्र रेखाटणारे जी. कांबळे". Lokmat (in Marathi). 22 July 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  2. "B News Kolhapur Segment". B News. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. Magadum, Vilas Y (November 2000). "6" (PDF). History of Kolhapur city 1949 1990 A socio economic study (PhD). Kolhapur: Shivaji University. p. 281. hdl:10603/140669. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  4. "Film Heritage Foundation Profile-A". Film Heritage Foundation. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  5. Janardhan, Arun (21 May 2010). "Bollywood's real poster boys". Livemint. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  6. Sethi, Sunil (12 July 2010). "Hoarding Secrets". Outlook India Magazine. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  7. Tripathi, Shailaja (31 December 2014). "Those good old poster boys". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  8. Tripathi, Shailaja (4 April 2016). "An empty palette". The Hindu. Banglore. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  9. Devraj, Rajesh; Bouman, Edo; Duncan, Paul (2010). The Art of Bollywood. Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8228-3717-7. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  10. Dutta, Ananya (2 February 2014). "Over 7,000 film posters, collectibles to go online". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  11. Shinde, P. N. (1995). "2". Life and career of Madhavrao Bagal (PhD). Kolhapur: Shivaji University. p. 55,394. hdl:10603/138303. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  12. Chaugule, Sandeep Sadanand. "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – SG-Trekkers". SGTrekkers. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  13. "Postage Stamps: A commemorative postage stamp (01 May 1979)". postagestamps.gov.in. Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications, Government of India. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  14. Goyal, Anuradha (8 July 2019). "Places To Visit In Kolhapur - The Cultural Heart Of Maharashtra". Inditales. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  15. "Film Heritage Foundation Profile B". Film Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  16. Kadam, Anuradha (17 October 2013). "चित्रांसाठी सोने विकण्याची वेळ". Maharashtra Times (in Marathi). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
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