In his work, the (erotic) charge lies also in the epiphany that accompanies each of his masterly works.

Sensuous strokes of rich colour. Nudes and lovers floating in the grey lands. Line drawings of the well-endowed female form. Erotic imagery has always found a vivid and throbbing (pun unintended) place in ancient and medieval Indian art practice, given that the Hindu religion of those days considered sex to be an important part of life and, therefore, worthy of serious study. This observation, made by an internationally acclaimed writer who has translated the venerable Vatsyayana’s scholarly treatise on the subject of amour and its accompaniments, may well hold true even today. Mostly due to the fact that sex, and all that leads up to it, does pop up substantially in our day to day lives, moral police notwithstanding.

Within the realm of contemporary Indian art, however, erotica is still a shrouded, if not entirely forbidden, area. Even though some of our most illustrious painters, such as Jogen Chowdhury, (the late) Francis Newton Souza and, even M. F. Husain, have been known to create works of art that are palpably erotic. Not to mention an entire generation of painters who created art that draws from the principles of tantra.

Says Chemould Gallery (Mumbai) owner, Shireen Gandhy, “I wouldn’t say that there are painters who just paint erotica, though many, many artists have done a series or a body of such work. The line between the blatantly vulgar and the poetic is thin, but terribly important when categorising works that fall into this area.” She cites contemporary painter Nicola Duruvasala’s drawings as an example of the creative artist’s ability to transform what could be termed as ‘vulgar’ or pornographic, into something of immense beauty.

I find Akbar Padamsee’s nudes and lovers, who float in the grey lands that lie between the profound and the profane, exceedingly erotic. Padamsee’s figuration is formal, even classical in its approach to form. There is nothing overt about his bodies, which appear to be at ease with their inherent sexuality. The eroticism in his figures lies not in the obvious, but in the unspoken. Further, the sensual play of rich colour and perfectly toned textures that caress each other, possesses the ability to transform seemingly mundane figure studies into unparalleled works of art. Here, lest the above observation seem like blasphemy, let me underline the fact that in Padamsee’s work the (erotic) charge lies also in the epiphany that accompanies each of his masterly works. (Padamsee, incidentally, was arrested in 1954 under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code for exhibiting a painting that depicted a man cupping a woman’s breast!)

On a more earthly and voluptuous note, Kolkata-based Jogen Chowdhury’s nudes and couples could easily be classified as hugely erotic. Chowdhury is a fine draftsman, who zooms in on the moment, so to speak, with a keen eye and an even keener line. Corpulent males lewdly eyeing or ‘fingering’ womenfolk in intimate settings and line drawings of the well-endowed female form, are some identifiable themes of the erotic as visible in his oeuvre.

Hyderabad-based, master-draftsman K. Laxma Goud’s etchings, equally skillful in their portrayal of human and animal forms engrossed in amorous play, are more overt. Goud’s figures throb with a raw unabashed physicality that could be interpreted as obvious sensuality, or blatant sexuality, depending on the viewer’s perspective. The late F. N. Souza’s exceedingly provocative nudes, both male and female, though cruder in disposition and artistic merit, too are known to evoke a similar earthy response.

Collectors and lovers of contemporary erotica however feel that being judgemental about ‘erotic art’ is counterproductive and may prove to be a hindrance that prevents the true aesthete from accessing what lies beyond the obvious. After all, most erotic paintings and sculptures, like other forms of art, celebrate various aspects of life.

In a lighter vein, Dadiba Pundole, who possesses a large treasure trove of such paintings and drawings, finds himself tickled by the humorous aspects of erotic art. “The erotic is in fact a reiteration of the richness, the fecundity of life,” adds a woman painter who has made erotic drawings for her personal pleasure, yet chooses to remain anonymous.

Meher Pestonji, writing on the subject in the inaugural issue of an art magazine, reveals that M. F. Husain has scripted a blue film, painted erotic graffiti on the walls of an art gallery, and made erotic works for a show called Mithuna, held in the early ’90s. She quotes Husain as saying,‘...Sexual repression, imposed by Christianity, has conditioned the Western mind over centuries, while the East has been celebrating sexuality in temples like Khajuraho. This has been reversed today, with the East imposing taboos and the West becoming liberated.’

Taboos, boundaries and closet painting apart, erotic art is perhaps most appropriate when viewed in much the same way as one might recite a brief sutra, meant more as an aphorism. Shorn of labels, such art functions as the briefest posible visual statement of the pleasure principle.