Celebrity publicist Anna Rothschild recently hosted designer Frederick Anderson’s New York Fashion Week (NYFW) after-party at New York hotspot Veranda and invitees were treated to a visual feast as select paintings of Indian master Shiavax Chavda were put on display.

The eight paintings comprising abstracts and semi-abstracts by the master draughtsman offered a fascinating introduction to the art of Chavda and evidenced an exquisite distillation of his boundless curiosity coupled with his multicultural sensitivity. The Indian artist’s recent exhibition was held at Veranda, Grand Street, New York.

We hear…

…That Anna Rothschild hosted a party for designer Frederick Anderson’s at Veranda. Art by Shiavax Chavda was on display and guests included Candace Bushnell, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Danny Baker, Petra Khashoggi and Libbie Mugrabi. It was sponsored by Glenfiddich whiskey and Hendricks gin.

Shiavax Chavda, who was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, held his first show at the Taj Mahal Hotel Prince’s Room in 1945. He gave top priority to drawing and was considered a master draughtsman.

The artist experimented in various artistic styles studying and recreating with his deft strokes the human body, birds, serpents and other animals, Balinese masks, famous Indian ancient temples and cave sculptures, Indian musicians, classical Indian dancers, semi-abstract and abstract art. He worked with paper, canvas, silk, plywood, Chinese ink, crayon, watercolours, tempera and oils.

The Nehru Centre Art Gallery, which has been regularly showcasing retrospectives of art masters for a quarter of a century, has chosen one of the pioneers of Indian modern art this month: late Mumbai artist and master draughtsman Shiavax Chavda.

In 43 years of marriage, artist Shiavax Chavda and Bharatanatyam dancer Khurshid Vajifdar shared their life - their house and their office - as equals. In their circular workspace in Dhobi Talao, he took up one half as his studio, and she took up the other half to teach dance.

"He would hear a lot of tabla, harmonium and dance sounds: explanations, instructions, children asking questions," says their daughter Jeroo Chavda. "It was a lively scene for him, because normally when you paint, it’s very solitary and quiet. You’re always by yourself. It added a lot of textures to his [paintings of] dancers. Even his abstracts, everybody says, “There’s so much movement in it.” They’re not static."

Artist Shiavax Chavda’s children talk about their father’s retrospective exhibition at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery.

His son Pervez Chavda remembers his father being immersed in his art for days at a time. “His discipline and passion for his work shaped our work ethic. He sourced his inspiration from unique aspects of our daily lives and his versatility permeated through his different styles of art,” he says. An observant person with a keen interest in the things happening around him, is how his daughter Jeroo Chavda remembers him. “He was well-informed about a lot of topics, including books, politics, films, dance and art. His work schedule was very disciplined. His whole life was a dedication to the arts,” she adds.

Chavda could be considered a painter of movement — but not just movement. His paintings depicted men and women in dance — across communities, styles and countries. They emerged from his travels across India and South-East Asia — a series of images that captured not only the specifics of a particular style, but also the culture, the joy and the purposefulness of the dance.

In the later ’80s, I had the privilege of interviewing a quiet and gentle man who worked isolated on his canvases in the terrace studio of his home, near what was formerly the Metro Cinema, in Mumbai’s Dhobi Talao area. By the time of our meeting, Shiavax Chavda (1914-1990) had already made a name for himself in artistic circles. As early as 1956, he had been honoured as one of the Nine Eminent Artists of India by the Lalit Kala Akademi. His works today grace collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; museums in Baroda, Nagpur and Budapest; the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; Tata Services; Godrej Boyce & Co, apart from several other private and public collections worldwide.

For the first time in 22 years, the family of late artist Shiavax Chavda will be holding a dedicated retrospective of his works at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, from October 24-30, 2017. ‘The Dancing Line – revisiting Shiavax Chavda’, is an opportunity to view a treasure trove of paintings and sketches by the master.

‘What excites me is pure painting: line, pattern, colour and balance which constitute the quintessence of composition.” This is what the artist Shiavax Chavda said in a 1981 interview with a newspaper when he was asked about whether he prefers to work with colour alone or is it the subject matter that appeals to him more. Chavda explained, “I don’t care for subject matter. Any subject is good enough. It’s just a peg to hang your composition on. It is incidental.”