Butterfly with Stinger - James McNeill Whistler and D G Godse द ग गोडसे

Key to unravel great minds and their work often is to know what drove them - personalities, events etc.

Great D G Godse द ग गोडसे, who studied arts in pre-WW II England, I feel, was driven by two personalities all his life-Mastani मस्तानी (wife of First Bajirao Peshwa पहिला बाजीराव पेशवा 1699-1740) and artist James McNeill Whistler (1834 – 1903).

He was obsessed with Mastani and deeply influenced by Whistler.

Wikipedia describes Whistler as:

“an American-born, British-based painter and etcher. Averse to sentimentality in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". He took to signing his paintings with a stylized butterfly, possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for Whistler's art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, in contrast to his combative public persona. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler titled many of his works 'harmonies' and 'arrangements'.”

I think most of it fits Godse too.

“Averse to sentimentality in art…art for art's sake… possessing a long stinger for a tail.. art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, in contrast to his combative public persona…”

“The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies” is a book by Whistler published in 1890. The book contains Whistler's letters to newspapers chronicling his many petty grievances against various acquaintances and friends.

Godse too could have written a book with the same title!

No wonder Godse wrote two wonderful essays on Whistler: “नांगी असलेले फुलपाखरू: 1 & 2” (Stinger Possessing Butterfly: 1 & 2) in 1989.

Thanks to poverty of Marathi publishing world, the book containing these essays is not well printed and has NO pictures, except the one on the cover (reproduced below left).



Artist: D G Godse द ग गोडसे c 1989 and James McNeill Whistler c 1890-1899

First time perhaps they appear together!