Vandana Shukla on Prolific Sculptor Latika Katt
I had recorded a long interview with Latika Katt, the celebrated sculptor, for Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi; when she bombarded my mailbox demanding more and more pictures of the late Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, whose sculpture she was commissioned to make by the Tribune Trust; I learnt how she cared for every single detail– of each fold in the turban of the late philanthropist.
How did Katt Weave Organic Forms?
She would prefer her models to sit for her– to enable a study of nuances; fine lines, curve of the neck, fall of the hair, jawline; and most importantly—the expression–each possible detail that an ordinary eye would miss.
In the initial years, she worked on realistic portraits to understand facial features. But this did not satisfy her. “That would miss the soul”, she told me. She worked on dead bodies to learn how the facial features behaved under the skin—the bones and muscles. Katt never allowed her models to sit still—she would help them talk, to observe how the features moved and behaved to get the perfect kinetics.
The next challenge would be to decide where to end a profile and stop adding elements. Ending a good profile is like ending a good joke, it requires all the skill to make it effective.
Another peculiarity about the terracotta faces she sculpted was—avoiding good-looking people. “To get a specific character of the face is difficult from very organised features, my choices are off-beat,” she said. Her famous bronze sculptures of Ram Kinker Baij and Bendre—are not good-looking faces; they arrest the eye with their condensed character—as though each muscle, vein and sinew is about to move. The patina on Rodin-esque bronze adds to the depth and character.
Translating the defining expression of the organic form in bronze, stone or other metals with perfect detailing in a natural way became her leitmotif. It lent her bronze profiles an element of breathing timelessness.
When she was persuaded to sculpt a person who could not be present—it had to match her perception of the person. She chose to show her people in a mood she found defining; without idolizing them.
Latika Katt’s Journey to Becoming A Prolific Sculptor
Latika Katt was not an ordinary sculptor. With such a delicate eye; she was gifted with hands that chiselled hard stones; and cut through huge boulders that would scare an ordinary human.
When I got to know her; I felt—her hands were not a gift—she had sculpted them with her indomitable spirit. At 75 she had bought a new jeep and talked excitedly about her drive from Delhi to Banaras.
I once looked at her pictures; when she was a young girl; delicate and petite. I could not think of Latika—the sculptor who was working at Vriksha Chhaya, in Varanasi, supervising large pieces of marble being unloaded from a truck, taking care of the right temperature in the massive furnace she had built at her studio; surrounded by tall and leafy trees—during rains the place was infested with snakes. The experimental artist visited quarries to select stones, and sculpted and installed colossal stone sculptures single-handedly! The hands she selected had to match her energy- she hated sloth and stupidity. Her forthrightness was not welcomed by everyone.
It was an unusual choice for a woman artist to opt for sculpture as her medium. But Latika Katt was not an ordinary woman. She made extraordinary choices; a product of Doon School, Dehradun, that produced high-profile corporate heads and executives—she chose to study fine arts for her Bachelor’s degree at BHU and did a Master’s from MS University Baroda to become the first woman to receive a gold medal in sculpture from MS. Later she got a research fellowship from Slade School of Art, London.
The first noticeable recognition came her way in the 70s when her experimental work– made from cow dung– was spotted by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who encouraged her to take sculpting as a profession.
At the India Art Fair, I saw her Rodin-esque bronze sculpture of a bunch of bananas hanging from a tree. Viewers marvelled at her ability to turn an ordinary object like a banana into an object of lasting beauty. Was it the sculpting power of her hands; the masterful use of her medium—the bronze– or her ability to capture the essence of nature—to grow and give–that caught the eye? She loved transforming nature into her still sculptures in an organic manner. Perhaps an influence of her botanist father made her perceive the universally resonant aspects in slices of ordinary visuals like a bunch of bananas.
If she studied dead bodies to get the kinetics of a face right; she observed how changes come over a tiny cell under a microscope to understand the world of insects and microcosms that make our universe. She welcomed these tiny objects in her world of sculptures.
Courtesy – Akar Prakar
She built her studio close to the ghats of Varanasi; the motif of steps is often used by her to voice her traditional Indian sensibility— sometimes combining it with modern images for experimentation. In one of her much- admired sculptures a pile of books evolves into steps—leading to a human brain.
Another experimental sculpture ‘Makarsankranti Nahan at Dashaswamedh Ghat’ of 2008 (for which she won the Beijing Art Biennale Award in 2010) shows the steps where figures are caught at different stages in the everydayness of life.
In her open studio space, Katt also developed a deep understanding of the teamwork of termites and bees that found an expression in her works. She told me; she found the world of animals and insects more exciting than the predictable world of humans.
Latika Katt is known for her larger-than-life sculptures and busts of public figures & organic forms, which dot famous buildings across the country; she outgrew making busts and figures of public figures. One of the most captivating images sculpted by her for the Nehru centenary year, was a 20-feet bronze sculpture of Jawaharlal Nehru, releasing pigeons in the skies—at Jawahar Bhawan, Delhi.
For installing public sculptures, she followed the same exacting processes that she applied for making profiles. She would visit the site to even investigate wind directions and to map perspectives. Katt got the ground dug 16 feet deep to get a perspective on Nehru’s sculpture.
She could be fastidious. She demanded the team she built for the project be at the site precisely at 5 AM and leave at 11. Nobody was allowed to make excuses for hunger and sleep. The no-nonsense Latika would come first to sweep the space clean and make sure the tools were cleaned before they left the site.
Latika Katt remained a prolific sculptor for over five decades, experimenting with form and medium– using everything from terracotta and papier-mâché to stone and bronze. Her later works moved towards abstraction.
Art, when pursued with conviction— brings consistency and success— she believed— art done “family chalane ke liye”, neither brings consistency nor success. Even though it gets more money.
Latika chose extraordinary situations to chisel out her role as an artist—that required all the strength, fastidious resolve and courage to take her where she stood—among the most celebrated sculptors—and perhaps the only Indian woman prolific sculptor of her times to scale such heights. She became a trailblazer.
Her husband Balbir Katt, himself a well- known sculptor and a Professor and Dean, of the Faculty of Fine Arts at BHU, encouraged her to follow her passion. He went missing from BHU and never returned. His disappearance remained shrouded in mystery. Sculpting became Latika’s calling. She loved it–the total engagement and immersion of her body/mind into the work. Besides the artistic vision—the need for detailing and planning– it required the body to become an ingredient in the act of creating. She remained immersed in it till her last day.
Latika Katt’s Organic Forms Displayed
Latika’s last major exhibition was held at Aakriti Art Gallery in Kolkata in November 2024, as part of Women Sculptors in Modern India. She was also a mentor and educator. She mentored many young sculptors at BHU and Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi, where she headed the Dept of Fine Arts.
Katt displayed her prolific artworks at the Paris Biennale, Museum of Modern Art; National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi; Chemould Art Gallery and Woodstock Art Gallery, London; ‘STREE’ Show at Moscow, Leningrad & Tashkent, and more national and international exhibitions. She also won numerous awards including the National Award from the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
The prolific sculptor passed away on January 25 at Jaipur. Her works expand the scope of Indian art.
Image Courtesy – Lalit Kala Akademi Chandigarh via YouTube
Writer | Journalist | Art Lover
