It is the fishermen, women and their day-to-day life that had fascinated painter M Krishnan of Madras. His oil paintings, movingly depict this community’s “unending struggle” to make both ends meet. Despite several hours of hard work by the sea, through chilly mornings, sunny middays and stormy afternoons, these people seldom earn enough to afford two meals a day, to say nothing of other necessities. Though, the main theme remained the same in each painting, he had a fresh approach towards the subject. Slipping the fishing net in the sea, a couple of men, women and children sharing a good catch, the study of a tired family returning after day’s work, a women anxiously waiting for a customer, and so on. Krishnan has shown children clinging to their parents. This symbolises their natural desire for parental protection against insecurities of life. Faces of men and women portrayed are calm as the sea in the background but their eyes are very expressive and speak their long tale of...