The Last Supper”the Eucharist of men is my favourite themein Christian iconography. It evokessomething beyond the canonical understanding, for it expresses the comingtogether of working men to share a meal. The undertones of the theme are love, envy, humility and forgiveness.Historically, the Last Supper has been a much loved theme with artists rightfrom Leonardo Da Vinci, Duccio, Il Tintoretto and Salvador Dali who have, inpainting the evocative episode, stamped it with their own artistic genius. Moreover, even non-Christian artists have beenenraptured by love, betrayal, humility and forgiveness. Francis Newton Souza,Angelo da Fonseca, Jamini Roy and Vivek Vilasini among others have worked onthis image in the Indian context.
I cannot discuss all these images in detail, but I will taketwo paintings I am partial to and discuss them in detail. The Eucharist byAngelo da Fonseca was executed in watercolours, gouache. The terra verte may have been a hand-poundedcolour, fixed with Windsor and Newton fixative. It was painted in 1964 justthree years before his death and at the height of his artistic maturity, whichwitnessed the flowering of his individual style after intensive experimentationto fix the Christian pantheon in Indian landscape and setting. Unlike myriads of ‘Last Supper’ paintings that have beenconceived on a horizontal plane to allow the large communion of apostles aspatial expansion, Fonseca has conceivedhis on a vertical axis. Its compositionis dominated by yellow, ochre, black, hints of olive, viridian and crimson lake. Every time I revisit thisimage, I am stuck by unique qualities.
For one, Christ and the apostles are sitting on floor levelIndian stools. Christ himself is seated in the centre wearing a white kurta,the apostles around him dressed in saffron-yellow are contemplating a meal somein yogic, meditative poses. Plates, tumblers and katoris laid out. A green screen hides the back while thetradition Indian diya dominates the centre of this communion of apostles. Onthe left close to the viewer sits Judas with his bag of silver. The sittingarrangement evokes images of Bhikarenche jevonn - a Goan custom wherein the poor are serveda sumptuous lunch before a familywedding or christening ceremony to make the occasion an auspicious one. It could resonate also of a typical Indian meal wherein the men areserved first. Ivy da Fonseca, theartist’s widow recalls that at one point most Christian homes in Kerala,identified so closely with the painting that the print was framed and hung in alarge number of homes.
Not only does this painting express the high point ofFonseca’s work but it also reiterates the syncretic ideas that Fonseca wasintroducing into art. This meant thephasing out of European features that dominated the pantheon in the secondcoming of Christianity to Asia and the infusion of colours, gestures and cultural symbols of the local,the Indian and Asiatic into the works ofart.
In his Last Supper of Gaza of 2008, Vivek Vilasini reenactsLeonardo da Vinci’s painting on the same theme to foreground issues of faithand betrayal. The magnificent work isexecuted in archival inks on canvas and has a brilliant photographic quality. However in this work instead of the apostlesthe work inverts and parodies a modern day context. Widows, sisters and students clothed inburqas and chadors form the tableaux. This painting lit by a glow from behind the subjects, heightens a rangeof emotions as the eyes, the only visible feature of the women in the paintingexpress love, shock, dismay and anxiety. This work communicates the unease and conflict that the political,religious and cultural ideologies have spread in the region under its purview.
