SIMA’s Annual Exhibition of Seascapes
The annual exhibition of seascape paintings by the members of the Society of Indian Marine Artists ( SIMA ), a sister organization to the IMF established in 2001, was held for three days in February 2016, at the recently renovated and modernized art gallery in central Pune, the Balgandharva Kala Dalan. 45 fine seascapes done by 13 of our artists were on display.
The Exhibition was inaugurated by our chief guest, Mrs Zarin Boyce, an eminent citizen of Pune, who is a social worker and a Rotarian of long standing. She was welcomed and introduced by Cmde R Vir, President of SIMA.
Mrs Boyce is the daughter of the late Col Ardeshir Tarapore, one of India’s national heroes, who was awarded posthumously the Param Vir Chakra, the highest gallantry award in action, during the 1965 war against Pakistan.
Cmde Vir, paying a tribute to Col Tarapore, recalled that he was commanding the tank regiment, the Poona Horse, in the battle in the Sialkot sector when, leading from the front in his Centurion tank he was killed by enemy fire, but only after his regiment had destroyed several enemy tanks and attained their objective. Col Tarapore was among the bravest of the brave and is the pride of Pune and of our country! A welcome feature at the exhibition this year was the display of 28 seascapes painted by young children, aged 4 to 12, who are art students of our members Deepshikha, Hina and Anuradha. Some of the painting were very good and of quite a high standard. This was an ample evidence of the fulfillment of our objective of raising awareness of the oceans in our young people and making them sea-minded! The children, unfortunately, could not be present at the Inauguration as they we at school but, like others, they too received certificates of participation at the hands of Mrs Boyce.
Another special event this year was an auction of six paintings generously donated back to SIMA by Capt Deepak Honawar, son of late Capt Bobby Honawar, who was the founder Vice President of IMF. Bobby had bought these paintings, as many of us did, at an auction after the very first workshop of seascapes we conducted at the Gateway of India in Mumbai in 2001, in the presence and the watchful eye of Mr Robert King, a distinguished marine artist IMF had invited from England, to inspire our artists with marine art. These paintings that morning were done by the students of the JJ school of Art, Mumbai, among others who participated in that workshop.
The auction was expertly conducted by our member Air Commodore Pankaj Mehrotra, who managed to sell all six paintings, bringing in some welcome funds to the depleting coffers of SIMA. Thank you Deepak and well done Pankaj !
Mrs Zarin Boyce spent much time and walked around the exhibition and took interest in the paintings on display, as well as in the artists. She was so generous as to buy three seascapes, which was truly heartening for the artists concerned.
