Huta is the Painter

‘Meditations on Savitri’ is the title given by the Mother to a series of 472 oil paintings created from 1961 to 1966 by a young student-disciple whom she named ‘Huta’ (The Offered One), illustrating selected passages from Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol.

In her work with Huta, the Mother was aiming for a new kind of painting. She told her student, “We are going towards a painting that will be able to express the supramental truth of things”, and said

“You must try to do the Future Painting in the New Light. There is a reason why I ask you to paint mostly on a white background. It is an attempt to express the Divine Light without shadow in the Future Painting. Do not try to adopt the technique either of modern art or of old classical art. But always try to express the true inner vision of your soul. … You must have the psychic touch to see and feel the vibrations, the sensations and the essence of the Truth in everything and that Truth is to be expressed in the Future Painting.”

The Mother has described how the paintings were made, as follows:

“Savitri, this prophetic vision of the world’s history, including the announcement of the earth’s future. – Who can ever dare to put it in pictures? Yet, the Mother and Huta have tried it, this way. We simply meditate together on the lines chosen, and when the image becomes clear, I describe it with the help of a few strokes, then Huta goes to her studio and brushes the painting. It is in a meditative mood that these “meditations” must be looked at, to find the feeling they contain behind their appearance.”

From 1956 onwards she trained Huta in careful work and infused consciousness into her hands, as well as teaching her oil painting and other techniques. The first painting of the Savitri series was made on October 6, 1961, when the Mother had called Huta to start the new work. After a deep concentration she asked:

“Child, have you thought of painting the jacket of the book which will be published after we have finished some paintings of Savitri?”

After another long concentration she took pencil and paper and drew a sketch, saying:

“Show the descent of the Supreme Mother: a flash of white Light forming the feet which rest on the globe of the earth. Don’t forget to paint the outline of a lotus, which must be mingled with the white Light.”

In this way the work went on until the end of 1965. When 23 paintings illustrating passages from the first Canto had been done, the Mother arranged for them to be published in a handsome book in 1962. Similar books were published in 1963 covering Cantos 2 and 3, in 1964 Canto 4, and in 1965 Canto 5.

By that time the entire series had been completed. The Mother saw the last paintings of Book Twelve – Epilogue on September 1st, 1965 – Huta’s birthday. She then announced her intention of exhibiting the entire series in the Ashram Exhibition Hall in February 1967, and asked Huta to bring her all the paintings again in small batches, so that she could see them one by one. Over the following months she asked Huta to retouch or repaint many of the paintings until she was satisfied with them all. The exhibition was held from February 10 – 26 1967. At the last minute Huta painted a a second big portrait of Savitri with blue eyes. The Mother asked for that to be kept in the last room, matching the big portrait with golden eyes which appeared at the beginning. A few of the Mother’s sketches were also displayed.

After the exhibition was over, the paintings and sketches were all taken to Golconde, where they were stored in two rooms. They remained there until January 1999. When Huta had to move from the apartment which the Mother had arranged for her in ‘Huta House’, all the paintings and sketches and her own writings were moved to her new flat in Ambabikshu Gardens. But the conditions there were far from suitable. When Huta came to know that the foundation stone for Savitri Bhavan had been laid by Nirodbaran on the afternoon of November 24 1995 – the same day and time of the Registration of the Havyavahana Trust, created by her as custodian of all her work – she approached us to ask whether the pictures could be accommodated there. Naturally, we agreed. Savitri Bhavan was created with the dream of accommodating all kinds of materials and activities which would assist understanding and appreciation of Sri Aurobindo’s epic, but the founder members had never dared to dream that Huta’s paintings would come there. At best, it was hoped that perhaps she might lend a few for temporary display. But Huta told us that after the exhibition, when everything was taken to Golconde, she had said to the Mother, “One day Savitri must have her own home.” After a concentration, the Mother answered, “It will be.” Huta felt sure that Savitri Bhavan would provide the ‘own home’ for Savitri which had been promised. In 2001, with the agreement of the Ashram Trustees, all the paintings were moved to Savitri Bhavan, where they have been stored in the special cupboards designed for them by the Mother. From time to time some of them were exhibited, first in the Square Hall, and after 2008 in the original Picture Gallery; but there only about 120 pictures could be shown at a time – about a quarter of the total series. It is only now, with the opening of the new expanded Gallery, that the entire series can be kept on permanent display according to the wishes of Huta and the Mother.

Meanwhile there were many other developments. In May 1965, the Mother had started reading the Savitri passages corresponding to the paintings. Huta recorded her readings. These recordings were passed to Sunil Bhattacharya, the Mother’s musician, who composed music for almost all of them up to the middle of Book Ten before he passed away without being able to complete the work. These recorded passages with his music were, and still are, played regularly in the Ashram Playground during meditations.

Already in 1971 Narad, (Richard Eggenberger) had photographed all the paintings. These were shown in a series of slide-shows in the Ashram Playground and in Auroville in 1972 as part of Sri Aurobindo’s Centenary celebrations, accompanied by short recordings of the Mother’s organ music, as Sunil-da’s compositions were considered too long for the purpose. Also in 1971, Michel Klostermann of Filmaur was given permission by the Mother to make films of the entire series, with her organ music as accompaniment. Much later Huta became aware that Michel was violating her copyright and misusing her materials for his own purposes. She began urging the Savitri Bhavan team to create a new set of films.

This dream began to be realized with the arrival in Auroville of Manohar Fedele and Giorgio Molinari. They set up a photography studio in the tiny room where the paintings were stored, and managed to photograph them all within about three weeks. Manohar then started to turn the images into videos with the Mother’s recorded readings and organ music as the soundtrack. When working on the images, he noticed that some of them were shadowed by dark stains. He suggested that expert conservators should be consulted about the care of the paintings. With Huta’s agreement he put us in touch with experts from Italy and a sample painting was sent for analysis. One of those conservators, Signora Laura Tacelli, came here and met Huta. She gave guidelines for cleaning and future storage of the paintings under climate-controlled conditions. Special equipment was purchased and installed in Savitri Bhavan, and Huta took up the work of cleaning the paintings herself. Only one important painting remained in an unfinished condition when she left her body on November 17, 2011.

Apart from the 476 Meditations on Savitri paintings done in oils on canvas-covered board, Savitri Bhavan is also taking care of the 116 gouaches (water-colours) on heavy-weight hand-made paper which make up the ‘About Savitri’ series painted from 1969 to mid-1971 by Huta and inspired by the Mother’s explanations of the first four cantos of Savitri; the 55 ‘Paintings of Sri Aurobindo’s Poems’; 50 ‘Visionary Paintings’; the ‘Joy of Light’ drawings, and of course all the Mother’s original sketches for the Meditations on Savitri, over 200 of them.

Huta was working hard up to only three or four weeks before her passing, on three or four books simultaneously: not only ‘Joy of Light’ and most importantly finalizing an account of her 18-years work with the Mother from 1954 to 1973: ‘My Savitri Work with the Mother’, both of which have now been published by Havyavahana Trust, but also the next volume of her ‘Story of a Soul’ series and a planned volume on ‘Occultism’. She also planned to publish all her own research on Savitri, but although her papers are with us it is unlikely that these three last projects will ever be fully realised.