“My interest in architecture and urbanization took me to many parts of the world with a sketchbook and a little portable stool in a portfolio case.”
— Cyrus S. H. Jhabvala
Artist Statement:
Cyrus Jhabvala had a passion for architecture, yet he always said that he started out his career wanting to be an artist. Although he supported himself and his family as an architect, he never gave up his dream of being an artist. He would use his weekend mornings and vacation days to go out and draw. As he scaled back his practice, he was able to increasingly concentrate his energies on his art. His fascination with Mughal architecture was reflected in his pencil studies and watercolors of the monuments of that period. Details and features of these monuments also appeared on his building designs. Once he started spending more time in New York, he expanded his artistic subjects to include watercolors and pencil drawings of the streets of Manhattan and Upstate New York.
Cyrus & Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 1951
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala & Cyrus Jhabvala
In a way, it can be said that Delhi was Jhabvala’s muse, as was later New York. He brings an architect’s knowledge, historical perspective and sensibility to the monuments of Delhi and the buildings of New York. He brought his keen and sly sense of detailed observation to his drawings, illustrating that a building does not live in a vacuum but is part of a larger organic world that springs up and evolves all around it. Thus, you see the huts and tenements around the old monuments with electrical poles juxtaposed around them. You see old brick-faced buildings being torn down in New York with the façade left up to satisfy historical requirements. You see the monkeys being fed outside an old British tower in Delhi. While in New York you see the “hold-out building” whose owner won’t sell to the developers and stands defiantly among the shiny new buildings.
Cyrus Jhabvala’s art spanned 4 decades, three continents and three different art mediums. We have divided up this presentation accordingly — by decade and by city, including a miscellaneous section as well to reflect other travels. The intent of this project is to present the art and selected works of an acclaimed architect, inspiring teacher and prolific artist.