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Stefan Norblin stayed in India for six years, during which time he painted several murals
In 1939, as German tanks and soldiers invaded Poland, a famous Polish artist and his film star wife pawned their jewelry and fled the country.
Stefan Norblin and Lena left behind their dream house, which they were building, and their entire artistic heritage in exchange for security.
The couple aimed to seek refuge in America and traveled through Romania, Turkey and Iraq, eventually arriving in colonial India, where they spent six years.
Their long stopover resulted in an unlikely collaboration between the artist and Indian maharajas (rulers) and gave India some of its finest works of art blending Western aesthetics with Indian iconography.
Between 1941 and 1946, several Indian kings commissioned Norblin to decorate their palaces with paintings and even design their interiors in the art deco style, a modernist style that celebrated innovation and technology.
Norblin rose to the occasion, painting magnificent murals of Hindu gods, entire scenes from the Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana and even the country's famous tigers, leopards and elephants in his signature mixed media style.
His paintings can be found at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in the state of Rajasthan – the home of the ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jodhpur, now converted into a luxury hotel – as well as the palace of the rulers of Morbi in the state of Gujarat. .
He also painted portraits for the Maharaja of Ramgarh in the state of Bihar, but these works were lost to time, says Norblin expert Claus-Ullrich Simon in Chitraanjali, a documentary that chronicles the works of the artist in India.
His murals are grand and vibrant, imbued with a sense of movement and emotion. They depict recognizable features of the art deco style, such as minimalist, elongated human figures, geometric shapes and bright colors; but they are fused with innovative interpretations of traditional Indian imagery, including the features and postures of Hindu gods.
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One of Norblin's paintings depicting the goddess Durga
Norblin was born in 1892 in Warsaw into a wealthy industrialist family. His father wanted him to become a businessman and sent him to study commerce in Antwerp, Belgium. But Norblin's interests lay in painting, a gene he probably inherited from his great-uncle, a descendant of a famous French painter.
So the young Norblin abandoned his studies and left for Europe, where he visited many galleries and created illustrations for magazines in Belgium, France and England, writes Agnieszka Kasprzak in the article The Unexpected Return of Stefan Norblin .
He then returned to Warsaw and began working as a graphic designer, set designer and book illustrator and gradually developed a fan following among the social elite. Norblin was best known for his portraits.
He met and married Lena, his second wife, in 1933 and the influential couple lived a comfortable life in Warsaw. But World War II tore them from their homeland and transported them to the shores of distant India.
The couple first arrived in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India, and were greeted by a confluence of cultures, religions and languages, says architect Rahul Mehrotra of Chitraanjali. Here the couple settled and Norblin began exhibiting his work in top galleries, attracting the attention of wealthy patrons.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the art deco style was a big trend in Europe, but it had not yet permeated the Indian architectural landscape. But the sons of many Indian maharajas were exposed to this style when they traveled abroad to study.
So when Maharaja Mahendrasinhji's son was building a new palace in Morvi (now Morbi) – which he named The New Palace – he wanted it to be designed and furnished in the art deco style.
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A Norbin artwork in the Maharani's suite at Umaid Bhawan Palace
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Murals and mosaics designed by Norblin in the Umaid Bhawan Palace
He commissioned Norblin to beautify the interiors of the place with his paintings. The artist created huge murals depicting hunting scenes, the Hindu god Shiva lost in prayer, portraits of the ruler's ancestors and images capturing the flora and fauna of the region. Her human figures have a mixture of dark and light complexions and a mystical, nymph-like quality.
The artist's next major commission came from Umaid Singh, who invited Norblin to decorate and design the interiors of the royal residence in Jodhpur. This request was perhaps the result of a transportation accident, which destroyed the furniture the Maharaja had ordered from London, Kasprzak wrote in his journal, Polish Artist At The Service of Maharajas.
Some of Norblin's finest works can be seen in the vast Umaid Bhawan Palace. Most captivating are its murals of the goddess Durga, often depicted riding a lion and slaying a demon. The goddess is also depicted with several hands, each carrying a deadly weapon.
In one of Norblin's paintings of Durga, the goddess looks almost like an Egyptian princess; in another, strokes of black paint give shape to the goddess, making her look almost like a streaked shadow on the wall.
In one of the rooms called The Oriental Room, Norblin painted a series of six murals depicting important scenes from the Ramayana, including the abduction of the goddess Sita by the demon king Ravana and her walking through fire to prove her chastity to her husband, Lord Ram. . Norblin also designed entire rooms of the palace, including the king's and queen's suites, the drawing room and the dining room.
National Audiovisual Institute of Poland and Polish Embassy in New Delhi
Norblin painted the Hindu god Shiva at the new Morbi Palace in Gujarat
Over time, several of Norblin's paintings were damaged due to lack of care, heat and humidity, but they have now been restored by the Polish government. His works have been exhibited in Poland and India, but remain unknown to many. This is probably because the artist did not enjoy the same success after leaving India for America.
The artistic community in San Francisco, where the family settled, was not as welcoming to the Polish artist. He received few commissions and after a while he stopped painting as his eyesight began to fail due to glaucoma. His wife, once a famous actress, started working as a manicurist in a beauty salon to support them.
The family struggled to make ends meet and Norblin fell into depression. In 1952, the artist committed suicide, not wanting to become a burden on his family. With his death, the legacy of his paintings in India fell into obscurity, until they were rediscovered by Claus-Ullrich Simon in the 1980s.
Since then, much has been done to bring the artist's work back into the spotlight, but there is still much to do.
