Departments

The establishment of Sir J.J. School of Art was in fact the beginning of sculptural education in India. As J.J. began in 1857 as school of art and industry, it had elementary drawing, architectural sculpture and metal work. In 1860 Italian sculptor Fransisco was invited as teacher to sculpture. It would not be much to say that the development of sculpture in these early days led to a great advancement of visual art as a whole in coming years. In 1868 Lockwood Kipling was appointed as head and this led to a major development of the same in terms of decorative design. The period of 1875 was a crucial one for the achievements in sculpture studies as can be seen in the decorative carvings over Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the facade reliefs of Crawford market. In 189 Mhatre created his famous sculpture ‘To the temple’. This event is a pioneering event in the history of sculpture as Mhatre was successful in bringing together the study of human anatomy with the rhythm and grace found in Indian sculpture. The work of sculptural advancement in J.J. is very significant as one sees the reawakening of sculpture in india its soul beauty after the lull after miniature paintings. Through the accurate and naturalistic study of human proportion combined with aesthetical being and expression led the portrait sculpture to gain fame and renown across the world.

In 1933, Shri G.K. Goregaonkar, alumni of J.J. itself became the department head with Mr. Fernandez as a teacher when the Indian sculptural reliefs ardently became the part of study. In 1936, after Charles Gerard’s idea of social sculpture the subject of Monumental Sculpture gained much importance. The development of department from architectural sculpture to decorative carving, then portraiture to monumental sculptures was consistently qualitative and admirable. This period saw the emergence of great sculptors like Balaji Talim, Vinayakrao Karmarkar, Shri Ramchandra Kadam and so on who reached great heights of human depiction, expression and naturalism. The sculpture department of J.J. has given milestone artists like V.V. Manjarekar, Shri Narayan Pansare, Shri Arte, Sadanand Bakre, Shri Jog, B. Vitthal, Narayanrao Sonawdekar, Vitthal Shanbaug, Dattaram Samant, Madan Garge and so on. Around 1975, under Shri Neelkanth Khanwilkar, school saw in influx of abstract as also the exploitation of varied mediums, especially the metal casting with artists like Uttam Pacharne, Kishor Thakur, Ravindra Salvi, Deepak Pavanikar coming forth.

The sculpture and modelling department of J.J. has been able to balance the naturalistic study as well as the modern rendering of subjects together successfully till date. With high technological advancement and creative quotient, the department strives to inculcate amongst students self thought based on the strong pillars of cultural awareness and modern expression.