By Balvinder Singh

Rattan’s later work

Baldev Raj Rattan, who has died aged 94, was an art teacher of post-1947 generation of Punjabi painters and a landscape painter himself.

He was born in Sialkot and later trained at Mayo School Lahore under ‘Master’ Feroz Din, ‘Master’ Jagan Nath and BC Sanyal. After Partition he worked at Delhi before joining Art College at Shimla and retired in 1971 from Chandigarh College of Art.

Rattan. Chandigarh. 2007. Pics Balvinder Singh

I remember Rattan as an art teacher of extraordinary qualities.

During my art college days, in the 1960s, I was not a favourite student of Mr Rattan. In fact I, an impatient student by nature, used to be scared of him because he, a perfectionist to the core, was a very tough task master and would never be satisfied with my quickie art homework.

I distinctly remember his thoroughly dissatisfied expression on his face every time I showed him my lettering chart. He would always ask me that why my ‘S’ never has that swan like grace.  It took time to understand and appreciate the essence of his any such gentle rebukes much later in my life when I myself became an art teacher.

In December 2007 the Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, S.F. Rodrigues, inaugurated a ‘Retrospective of renowned artist & distinguished landscape painter, Baldev Raj Rattan’ at Government Museum and Art Gallery.

 

Chandigarh retrospective show in 2007. Pic The Tribune

Rattan was passionate water colourist. It was his solo contribution that despite the fact that water colour is a technically toughest of all the art media, he had made it a very popular amongst all the art college students. Whether one could handle this medium properly or not was immaterial. Every Sunday students, in small groups, would venture out like a religious ritual, for landscape painting flaunting their pasting-boards and Windsor & Newtons’ water colour boxes.

With his going, I think, the last of the breed of dedicated art teachers perhaps have come to an end.

A big thank you Mr Rattan that once after I understood you, though belatedly, my future line drawings, my forte, never lacked the required grace.  

Balvinder Singh

Baldev Raj Rattan, Punjabi art teacher and painter, born 1917 Sialkot; died March 2011 Chandigarh