Wedded to art

“No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the child in you alive”
- John Cassavetes

It might be that John Cassavetes, most definitely had people like the Puttys in mind when he coined the above phrase. At first sight, 89-year-old Raghutham Putty and his 78-year-old wife, Lalitha Putty look like any other couple well into their prime. But Raghutham is one among the very few remaining landscape artists in Karnataka. Lalitha on the other hand is adept at creating beautiful works of art out of embroidery.

Hailing from Tumkur district, Raghutham looks upon his mother as the first teacher and home as his first institution. His artistic abilities were recognized and nurtured by his mother when he was all of six years old. Making improvisations to existing rangoli designs became his favourite past time. But it was his high school head master, who took him to the Gubbi Veeranna Company and introduced him to painting. So enamoured was he by the magical world of paints and palettes, that he took up drawing as his optional subject in his SSLC matriculation. Unfortunately his education was cut short due to the untimely death of his father, and he was sent to Madras (now, Chennai) to work. “People there were so commercial minded, that I felt my creative abilities being stifled”, he says. His lucky break arrived when he answered an advertisement by the Bangalore based Adison company, and was duly selected. Realizing that he would never be allowed to leave Chennai, Raghutham Putty fled to Bangalore, where he worked for an year before deciding to go solo. He was only 19 years old at the time.

In 1936, he shifted base to Mysore and joined the Chamarajendra Technical Institute. Before he could complete two months of the course he was sent to work as a clerk at the Oriental Research Institute. In 1939, he married Lalitha. The salary he received was never sufficient to support both his family and art. Debt ridden and with no other option, Lalitha worked as a librarian. She also took to embroidery as a means of extra income. Infact, it was Raghuram who noticed her agility with the needle and encouraged her to take up embroidery. “Seeing a piece of Chinese tapestry, my husband challenged me to replicate it. Ultimately, I won the bet. That was what made me perfect the intricate thread work”, she reveals with a mischievous smile. Lalitha was also the official embroiderer for the royal ladies of the Mysore palace. “My salary in those days was three rupees”, she says. That apart, she also taught embroidery at the Samaj.

Lalitha has done over 25 pieces of tapestry, each surpassing the other in terms of finesse and intricacy. However her favourite work of art is the Blue Jay which contains an unbelievable 22 colours in one inch. Lalitha Putty has also won the silver medal at the Amritsar Academy Awards.

Raghutham too has no dearth of awards and accolades. He has conducted 30 solo exhibitions and over 250 joint exhibitions till date. He was awarded the Academy Award in 2001, in recognition of his art. A student of Shudhodhana, he has even been equated with the great veteran Rumale Channabasavappa.