As a creative director and writer from a country as rich, varied, chaotic and visually resplendent as India, one of the most pleasurable and nerve-wracking moments, is planning a trip through India with a dear friend, who is not just a fellow creative but also someone with exceptional taste and talent, visiting India for the second time.
What are the choices made: that fine balance between too touristy, too local, not local enough, overwhelming, of artistic interest, tediously historical or exciting...the list is endless. I decided that my India, the one I enjoy, the one that I feel most myself in, the one that still elicits that sigh of wonder...was the one I wanted to show Christoph.
Having known Christoph Niemann for over twenty-five years, I knew that this journey through India would largely be viewed through the lens of the artist and illustrator that he is. His work has appeared regularly on the covers of the New Yorker Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic amongst others. There have been museum retrospectives, live drawings from the Venice Biennale and (my favourite) the New York City Marathon (which he sketched while running it), numerous books and even a Netflix moment. But of all his prolific work, his travel drawings, hold a special place for me. They are a blend of drawn from life and from the photographs he takes, which he then paints (the original ink drawings are a wonder to behold) or limited edition prints.
India is a visual gift that keeps on giving and I knew that Christoph’s visit would inspire a whole new collection of travel drawings that would (selfishly) enable me to view India through his lens.
We began our trip in Delhi, which was a combination of some sights (Safdarjung Tomb, India gate, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk), many delicious meals, visits to friends’ homes, Khan Market, an afternoon spent working on Linocuts with the artist Jayati Kaushik and our friend and curator Feroze Gujral, along with moments of quiet at the Oberoi Hotel, overlooking the lush green of the Delhi Golf Course. Moved on to Jodhpur to the spectacular Raas Hotel, visits to the local markets, walks up to the Mehrangar Fort, a flying lunch visit to Umaid Bhavan Palace, dinners with new friends and meanderings through the old town. Next up, a day in Agra. An early morning train from Nizamuddin Railway station is the best introduction to journeying through India, the chaos as the sun rises and the train departs, the swirl of life on each new railway platform, as we stop for embarkers and disembarkers and finally Agra. Swooshed into the Oberoi Amarvilas (the best view of the Taj in town) for a breakfast before our early visit to the Taj, a morning viewing one of the most beautiful monuments in the world, aided by an excellent guide and the excitement of our fellow visitors (families, couples, tour groups, school children, historians and keen photographers) it is as vivid a cross section of India as one can find.
Through this all, I found myself viewing all these familiar moments with a more observant eye, wondering all the while what aspect of this Christoph would find arresting or note worthy. I saw the sketches and drawings as Christoph made them daily and noticed all that I hold dear about my travels within India: the warmth and the noise, the stillness within that noise, the perfectly framed moment that can disappear in the blink of an eye, was captured in his sketches.
To bring a friend into one’s world (which is very different to the world one exists in usually) and have them see it with the same generous eye, is a pleasure indeed. As the trip came to a close, I asked Christoph about his journey. His answers below, but more than that, his impressions are all captured in the drawings he made. Christoph Niemann: ‘I find the world in general pretty overwhelming.
Even when I’m sitting at my familiar desk in Berlin, the majority of my artistic energy is spent on trying to process all the noise in my head into intelligible images.
When I travelled to India, I knew I had to switch to a different mode: as I was visiting sites in Delhi or wandering through the markets of Jodhpur or marvelling at the magic of the Taj Mahal, I didn’t even attempt to consciously translate all my impressions into a story.
Rymn Massand (left) | Christoph Neimann (right)
The impressions were too overwhelming, the details were too overwhelming and the energy is too vibrant for my mind. Instead, I just opened my visual hatches as wide as I could and as I would sit on a terrace or the desk in a hotel room, I would just try to be as open as I could to wherever my ink and my brushes would take me in my sketchbook.
This doesn’t mean that the drawings happen in an unconscious haze. The moment I start drawing, an image develops its own dramatic balance, one that I have to react to with a lot of concentration. But the great challenge of this trip, was to trust that all the incredible sounds and smells and colours would find their way into my art.
What was unique about this trip, I was travelling with my dear friend Rymn. Not only did she show me places I would have inevitably missed and introduced me to so many of her inspiring friends, most importantly, I didn’t have to spend any energy on navigating (neither geographical nor culinary) and could just float along and focus on keeping my senses open.’
Words Rymn Massand
Date 30.12.2024