Rohan Chowdhury at Lord’s
We were at the MCC Museum at Lord’s Cricket Ground, where we spoke with Stuart Pearson Wright, the artist behind the newly unveiled portrait of Sachin Tendulkar.
The painting was revealed on Thursday, July 10, just ahead of the start of play in the third Test between England and India.
Rohan: Mr Wright, welcome to RevSportz. Firstly, I would like to know more about this painting. I read that the MCC wanted a larger-than-life picture.
Earlier, you had made paintings of Kapil Dev and Bishan Singh Bedi, full figures, but this is something different. Could you please explain the thought process behind it?
Stuart Pearson Wright: Well, MCC specified that they wanted this picture to be a standalone piece and not be part of a series because the other three paintings that I made of Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev and Bishan Singh Bedi were like a triptych, if you like, they were a set of three. So, they just said, ‘Please make this a separate standalone piece.’ So, that was the brief.
Rohan: Could you please get back to how it started, when you started painting this picture? And the picture that you selected, what was the thought process behind that?
Stuart: Well, it was a very long gestation process because I met Sachin in 2007 when I went to Mumbai. It was the same time I painted the other three Indian cricket players. So, I did a drawing of him from life, which is at Lord’s already, and I took lots of photographs.
I’m not quite sure why Lord’s took such a long time to get around to commissioning this, but eventually they decided it was time for me to make it. And so, I used the photographs. It wasn’t just one photograph, it was many photographs that I used, and also the drawings that I had worked on at the time as a kind of reference to make this.
Rohan: Could you please get us through the process of how much time it took to actually paint this one, and also the medium?
Stuart: So, it’s painted in oil, it’s on a piece of aluminium. I’m the only person who’s allowed to do that (After tapping the aluminium canvas). I always maintain the right to tap my pictures.
Also Read: Where Cricket Lives: Inside the MCC Museum at Lord’s
But you can see it, so it’s a piece of metal, which is relatively unusual. People mainly paint on canvas, but the thing about aluminium is it’s got a very smooth surface. You can see that the skin is … it took a long time to sort of blend those skin tones to get that sort of smooth effect.
Rohan: How much time?
Stuart: Well, I think the whole painting took around a month, a month to five weeks, something like that. I couldn’t say exactly. And I began just by painting the image in black and white.
So, I just painted like a drawing, but in paint, and then worked over that in colour.
Rohan: During the inauguration of the painting, when you met Sachin, what was the conversation like?
Stuart: Well, I enjoyed meeting him. I met him at his house.
I don’t know very much about cricket, and I told him that. And in all honesty, I think I’ve heard of him, but I wasn’t in awe of him, which is a good thing.
Because otherwise, that could have been very tricky. It can be very difficult to paint someone if you’re starstruck, you understand? So, I think it’s very good that I didn’t know who he was. I knew he was a cricket player, and friends who are big cricket fans said he’s very good.
You know, it’s a great honour you’re getting to meet him. I met him at his house in 2007. He was very, very pleasant, very accommodating.
And I was quite taken by his humility. That was the quality that struck me most about him. And also, he asked me where I was from, and I explained I was from London.
And he said how much he loved London. And the reason he loved London was that when he was here, he could walk in the park with his kids. And that really struck me, because I was trying to picture what it must be like being him, and not being able to just walk out of his house and go to the shops.
Rohan: So, what other players do you have in mind after Sachin?
Stuart: That I’d like to paint?
Rohan: Yeah!
Stuart: The problem is, I don’t know the names of any cricket players, apart from the ones I’ve painted, or ones from the 1980s, like Ian Bothman. I’d be interested in painting more. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I’m not a sports fan, but I don’t think it’s important.
I don’t know anything about cricket. but for me, it’s about the skin. It’s about the shape of the nose and the likeness. And it’s about those things.
When I paint someone, I don’t always necessarily read about them or learn a lot about them. Because for me, it’s about an interaction in the moment. You know, you have someone in the room.
It’s about a connection that you build with someone. So, it can be helpful, but I don’t always need to know a lot about a person. So, the fact that I’m not a big sports fan, I think, hopefully doesn’t mean that I’m not qualified to paint more sports people if they want me to paint them.
Rohan: Thank you so much, Mr Wright. It was lovely talking to you.
Stuart: You’re very welcome.
WATCH:
Seventeen years after first meeting Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai, Stuart Pearson Wright’s portrait of the cricket icon has now found its home at Lord’s.
It was unveiled at the MCC Museum ahead of the third England-India Test.
Hear from the artist himself.@FoodnWellness… pic.twitter.com/3JOR9tfJQc
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