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Lot 48

 

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An Austrian painter and art teacher, Walter Langhammer was one of the foremost patrons and critics of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. Born in Graz in 1905, Langhammer fled to India with his Jewish wife Käthe Urbach in 1938, shortly before the Second World War. Although their initial time in the country was turbulent, with the couple being arrested by the British and interned in different cities, they were released once their political... An Austrian painter and art teacher, Walter Langhammer was one of the foremost patrons and critics of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. Born in Graz in 1905, Langhammer fled to India with his Jewish wife Käthe Urbach in 1938, shortly before the Second World War. Although their initial time in the country was turbulent, with the couple being arrested by the British and interned in different cities, they were released once their political leanings were confirmed through evidence in the form of Langhammer’s caricatures.

Walter and Käthe set up a studio in their apartment at Nepean Sea Road in Bombay, and became an active part of the artistic community of the city. Langhammer secured a position at The Times of India as the newspaper’s first Art Director, and every Sunday, held an open salon for artists to discuss their work. He exposed the young Progressives to European and Indian art and encouraged them to examine and dissect these paintings. According to S H Raza, “He used to put in front of me paintings by Raphael, El Greco, Monet and Cezanne; paintings of the Persian, Rajput and Mughal miniatures and he would say, ‘Look at these paintings and tell me what is happening there.’ It was a tough job but it was an eminent awareness of form which started developing in me which I started to follow in time to come.” (Quoted in Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Langhammer’s own artistic practice flourished in India, and he exhibited frequently at the Bombay Art Society. His fellow émigré and art critic Rudolf von Leyden, reviewing one of Langhammer’s exhibitions at the University Convocation Hall in Bombay in 1945, wrote, “The creative play on the sheer beauty of colour has been the preoccupation of many artists, past and present… for years he has struggled to break down the fence and reach the realm of pure colour… I would not be surprised if the impact of Indian light and colour on his artistic temperament has accelerated the process and will continue to influence it.” (Dalmia) Langhammer was also an influential member of the Bombay Art Society Committee, and collaborated with Kekoo Gandhi, who founded Chemould Art Gallery, to design frames of a superior quality for individual artworks. He maintained that modern Indian art had great potential and would continue to grow.

As Langhammer’s health deteriorated, he returned to Europe with his wife. He died in 1977.

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