Great art has a life of its own, and the very best artworks continue their trajectories far beyond the life and limitations of the artists who first brought them into being. It is, of course, also true that most of what is created in one time doesn’t usually carry its intended impact to future generations – and that is perfectly fine, even to be expected. Nonetheless, there are exceptions – what we recognize as greatness – that resist becoming dated, and instead continue to grow in meaning and importance. We are seeing exactly that in action in the highly welcome new presentation of the stunning - and creditably constantly improved - collection of 100-year-old paintings by the Sanguem-born proto-modernist António Xavier Trindade that has been on free display to all for years at the Fundação Oriente premises in Fontainhas. A few additions and some crucial new positioning with better light has significantly improved the viewing experience, and our collective understanding of this true master’s capacities and compulsions. Rather intriguingly, shifting its location just a few feet made all the difference to the enigmatic 1912 self-portrait you see reproduced on this page. Up close in the way it is now on the wall, it becomes amply clear this masterpiece is the most important 20th century artwork on display in Goa, and a milestone achievement in Indian art history.
Lots can and should be said about the sorry fact that António Xavier Trindade is the only exemplar from the truly extraordinary 20th century lineup of Goan artists – Chimulkar, Fonseca, Gaitonde, Souza, on and on – whose work is easily seen in their own homeland, and that is courtesy an organization based in Lisbon. In this regard, it cannot be acknowledged and appreciated enough that Fundação Oriente has not merely kept its promise to the artist’s descendants to maintain the works on display, but in fits and starts – and with more purposeful energy under the current delegate Paulo Gomes and his predecessor Inês Figueira – kept studying the archive, kept adding new artworks, and ensured this invaluable treasure trove is at the centre of all its activities in Goa. Here, the new museum catalogue by Fatima da Silva Gracias and Paulo Gomes is yet another positive step forward, by considerably raising the bar for scholarship about Trindade and his milieu, in a valuable re-weighting to the man on the other side of the easel of all his lively, lovely, super-sensitively rendered portraits.
The bare facts of Trindade’s life have long been familiar: his father was from Assonora but he was born in Sanguem in 1870. At 17, he enrolled at the Sir Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy School of Art in Bombay – where many Goans studied in the latter decades of the 19th century – and won many prizes and distinctions throughout his undergraduate and master’s degrees. In 1898, he became one of the first Indian faculty members at the JJ School, and in 1920 became Superintendent of its reputed Reay Workshop. All the while, he gained increasing fame as the pre-eminent salon artist of his time, winning the Mayo Silver Medal (1898) and Gold Medal of the Bombay Art Society (1920) and many commissions from the colonial high society. In those years, he and his family were a prominent presence in their
home city, when Casa Bianca (which still stands) in Mahim spilling over with eight musically and artistically talented children, including five famously fiesty daughters.
It is that Trindade –secure pater familias with confidently tousled hair – whom we are suddenly eye-to-eye with in the new Fundação Oriente gallery set-up. This self-portrait was always there, but in one corner, and consistently poorly lit from the very beginning. Thus, previously, your attention was very quickly drawn in other directions: to the intimate family scene on an adjacent wall, to the spectacular series of portraits of women directly opposite: his wife Florentina, his daughter Esthar, a benevolent-looking Annie Besant, the beauteous Miss Ferns (who calls herself a writer, and is my favourite). All that is changed now, because it is the artist himself who commands the room from his magnificent near-monochrome self-portrait, looking directly into your eyes as though sitting across the table, with a distinct twinkling behind his exquisitely rendered thin-rimmed gold glasses. What a formidable presence, what gentle power. This is an indelible, authorial energy radiating its influence to refocus all the other works in the room. Paintings don’t talk, but this one certainly speaks volumes in the eloquent voice of António Xavier Trindade.
It is important to note that this artist left Goa in the 19th century, and it wasn’t until the 21st century that his paintings arrived here for the first time, as bequeathed by the Esther Trindade Trust (after an unfortunate sojourn in the USA where this self-portrait and some other works were incompetently “restored”). Since they have been in Fontainhas, one of the best aspects of their journey into our consciousness has been the devoted attention of Dr. Fatima da Silva Gracias, who has devotedly learned more and more about the artist and his family, and substantially added to our understanding of the subjects of these paintings as well. Here is a short excerpt from her introduction to the new catalogue: “The paintings in Fundação Oriente’s Trindade Collection are just a small part of the vast body of Trindade’s works, His paintings are scattered all over the globe: the United States of America (USA), Canada, England, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia and various parts of India. They are in the possession of erstwhile princely rulers of India, art dealers, churches, convents, museums and perhaps even in the drawers of ordinary folks, since at one time, he traded his paintings for commodities such as sugar and tea which were scarce during WWI…Around thirty-three paintings of António Xavier Trindade are on permanent display at the Galeria de Arte. They display his versatility and genius. Trindade’s paintings on offer here bear witness to his minute attention to detail and the ability to capture these details with authenticity.”