Even 75 years later, the cover image on the dust jacket of Vinay Lal’s Insurgency and the Artist creates a sense of intense expectation in the viewer. Though untitled, it captures the stirring call of Gandhi’s prophetic command “Do or die” on August 8, 1942.
The painting by Babuji Shilpi (gouache, 1942; From the Collection of Darshana Shilpi Rouget and Ajit Shilpi) suggests a panoramic view of the moment from different vantage points. It combines a Moghul artist’s perspective, situating each separate group of people at the same eye level by using stylised trees and barriers and platforms to suggest a vast concourse of expectant individuals ready for action.