For Sri Dilip Sashmal, an artist, the profession becomes anonymous with his passion. Sri Sashmal is a Teacher of Fine Arts. The members of Barrackpore Photolovers’ Association were fortunate enough to hear the deliverance on Composition by Sri Sashmal on 10.12.2016. The maestro discussed in details the various aspects of Composition from the point of view of a Painter. Both for photographers and for painters, composition is basically made on a frame or a canvas. Both emphasize on arrangement of subjects on the canvas in an aesthetic way.

A simple perpendicular stroke represents nothing as such, but when a horizontal line is drawn at the bottom, it becomes stable and represents firmness and the same stroke when put diagonally on the line, it becomes motion. The Shiva Linga is simply a plus symbol, but represents a highest example of abstraction. The same way a curb, a half circle, a circle or triangle represent different patterns in our mind. Sri Sashmal started it from the Paleolithic ages when the leader of the group draws a line or figure or an object on the cave wall. His aim was how to make it understandable to common members of his group. Composition has thus come out from the mind of that primitive age. Till the period of Renaissance the art form moved around the life of Jesus and Roman celestial figures due to predominance of Christianity. Renaissance put a blow on it and depicted the common human figures as subjects on canvas. Gradually impressionism, expressionism, modern paintings, surrealism, etc. have come up.Sri Sashmal beautifully narrated them with the drawings on a blackboard instantly. His communications have become vivid when he related the dancing figures with a half circle or the mother with two children with a triangle.

He depicted how a hunting bird appeared to be very close when a tree was drawn nearby and the same bird appeared to be high in the sky when a horizontal line was drawn at the center.

Barrackpore Photolovers’ Association is grateful to the artist. Members also interacted with Sri Sashmal and put different questions. The session thus becomes very much useful for the participants and BPA pledges to arrange a seminar on the same subject in a big scale in near future.