Udaipur artist adds colour to olden world of black and white

Udaipur (Rajasthan): An artist from Rajasthan's Udaipur adds colour to pictures and paintings of the olden days to make them more realistic and attractive, an art form he is carrying forward as a legacy of his family.   

40-year-old Rajesh Soni, an artist from Udaipur, restores old photographs and ancient paintings. For the last 75 years, his family has been restoring damaged photographs and old paintings using the 'Art of Hand Colouring'.

"We used to do photo shoots ourselves, and then we used to get the printouts of the photos which were then painted on. That is the technical side of things. What my grandfather used to do is - he used to get old photographs. My father used to get old photographs for restoration. I used to watch him do the work and thought that it was very interesting. So I thought that I will take this work forward," Rajesh Soni said.

The work requires an immense amount of research and a high level of skill, and detail. "Whichever photograph comes in for restoring, or whatever painting comes in, it is usually damaged very badly. It is around 70 to 80 per cent damaged. Imaging needs to be done on the part that is missing. Restoration has to be done with the exact measurements and using the exact tone. The old colours and the new colours need to be matched with the older ones. If there is a tear, the piece of canvas or paper (used to repair it) should also be old," he said. 

Rajesh's process involves conducting photo shoots, sketching the subject based on the photographs, and employing colouring and shading techniques to create hyper-realistic pieces. He says that he wants to use the techniques to create unique pieces which depict modern times.

"To take this work forward, I have learnt the old techniques - how miniature paintings are made, how colouring is done on photos, how gold is put on photos. I have learnt all these techniques. The artists in the older generation used to depict things from that period, like that of elephants, horses and kings. Today, people go around on bikes or cars. I demonstrate these stories using my techniques."

Although the unique art form is practised by very few people now, Rajesh Soni hopes to inspire the future generation to continue pursuing this craft.