Alphonso Arul Doss
| Photo Credit:
Picasa
A generous teacher and influential artist, Alphonso Arul Doss who just passed away, had a mastery over oils, defining his own ‘line’ with light, time and space
With the passing of veteran artist, Alphonso Arul Doss (1939-2021) yet another star of the Madras Movement passed into the night sky. Through his lustrous paintings with their crystalline quality, diamonds polished to fire, his light will shine on all his brethren for years to come.
Humanity first
Winner of numerous awards and one-man shows the world over, lifelong, he was inveterate at being human, showing care and compassion, cultivating such qualities with ostensible ease. Alphonso put empathy first, before any speech of, or brush with, artistry. His students and compatriots remember him as much for his kindness and generosity as his ability to teach. Curator and filmmaker Gita Hudson recalled, while making a film on him titled ‘Golden Flute’ — which first showed at his retrospective in 2014 at DakshinaChitra — how Alphonso would hire a cab for her crew and buy them lunch. He was Principal of the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai from 1992 to 1997. When he visited his old school in recent years after the screening of his film, younger students who did not even know about the Madras master, crowded about him taking selfies — such was the power of his grace.