Life

Edmund Thomas Clint was born on May 19, 1976 in Kochi, a charming port city in Kerala, India. He was the only child of Mullaparambil Thomas Joseph and Chinnamma Joseph. A huge fan of cowboy movies, Joseph named his son after his favorite movie star, Clint Eastwood.

Before Clint turned one, his first drawing of perfect circles was born on the floor of their living room. A fleeting springtime of blessed strokes and artistic brilliance followed.

Clint's parents did not recognize the touch of genius in his drawings. However, they understood his urge to draw. Although a financially struggling accountant at that time, Joseph strived to fulfill Clint's every artistic need. On business trips to Bombay (now, Mumbai), Bangalore, and Delhi, Joseph searched factory outlets and poky shops for children's books, second hand copies of world classics, and big packets of crayons with more than 75 shades of colors.

In many ways Chinnamma and Joseph were the perfect parents for Clint. A lover of natural sciences, Chinnamma taught him to observe and be awed by Nature. The two of them went on long evening walks down the winding lanes that led to piers, marketplaces, and monsoon-drenched meadows.

Joseph was a born storyteller and a martial artist. He told Clint stories from around the world–Christian parables, Hindu mythology, Aesop fables, Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, Tolstoy's fables for children. Clint's heroes were Samson who slayed a lion with his bare hands; David, the fearless boy who fought the mighty Goliath with a sling; Bali, the monkey king of formidable strength; Arjuna the greatest archer; and his son, Abhimanyu, the valiant prince who died young. His favorite stories were those from the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

G Mohanan, a gifted painter, a prominent interior designer, and a close friend of Joseph, was the first to discover Clint's genius. When Joseph asked him to be Clint's mentor, Mohanan felt that he was unqualified for the job as he would have absolutely nothing to teach Clint. Art was in every pulse of his self. As he grew up, Clint considered Mohanan his mentor and a kindred spirit.

Shortly after he turned three, Clint was diagnosed with a debilitating kidney disease. His belly ballooned up, his limbs were swollen, and he was exhausted most of the time. Battling the ailment, he relentlessly created art that was at once engrossingly real and masterly nuanced, on themes as deep and dense as death, solitude, and love. When Chinnamma massaged his cramped right hand, he drew with his left hand.

As doctors and hospitals abandoned all hope, Joseph heard about Dr. Joseph Abraham, a renowned Homeopathic doctor. It was him who brought Clint back from the jaws of death to the greener pastures of health and wellbeing.

For the next two years, Clint lived a life replete with good health and unrestrained creative expression. He started school and became popular as the adorable boy with a soul that emanated unalloyed beauty and art.

Around this time, Clint participated in art competitions and won prizes and accolades. His crowning glory was the first prize and gold medal for the best child artist at the painting competition organized by Universal Arts at Kozhikode, Kerala. The drawing contest was one of the most prestigious of its kind in India.

Clint did not care for awards and recognition. He had an insatiable yearning of the heart for answers that have eluded most of the humanity from the dawn of time: "Where do we come from? Where do we go when we die? And why do we die?"

A month short of his seventh birthday, following a brief illness, Clint died. Moments before he slipped into a coma, Clint whispered to his mother, "It's nothing, mummy… I might suddenly fall asleep. I might not wake up when you call me… I am just sleeping. Please don't be sad, mummy… Please don't cry." Clint never woke up from that sleep.

Edmund Thomas Clint left a legacy of more than 25000 paintings and drawings.

At Clint's art exhibitions, people queued up defying the sweltering heat of the tropical sun to avail the opportunity to partake in Clint' magic of colors and lines. So far a hundred exhibitions have been organized in his home state of Kerala and have introduced more than a million to Clint's world.

Edmund Thomas Clint was born on May 19, 1976 in Kochi, a charming port city in Kerala, India. He was the only child of Mullaparambil Thomas Joseph and Chinnamma Joseph. A huge fan of cowboy movies, Joseph named his son after his favorite movie star, Clint Eastwood.

Before Clint turned one, his first drawing of perfect circles was born on the floor of their living room. A fleeting springtime of blessed strokes and artistic brilliance followed.

Clint's parents did not recognize the touch of genius in his drawings. However, they understood his urge to draw. Although a financially struggling accountant at that time, Joseph strived to fulfill Clint's every artistic need. On business trips to Bombay (now, Mumbai), Bangalore, and Delhi, Joseph searched factory outlets and poky shops for children's books, second hand copies of world classics, and big packets of crayons with more than 75 shades of colors.

In many ways Chinnamma and Joseph were the perfect parents for Clint. A lover of natural sciences, Chinnamma taught him to observe and be awed by Nature. The two of them went on long evening walks down the winding lanes that led to piers, marketplaces, and monsoon-drenched meadows.

Joseph was a born storyteller and a martial artist. He told Clint stories from around the world–Christian parables, Hindu mythology, Aesop fables, Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, Tolstoy's fables for children. Clint's heroes were Samson who slayed a lion with his bare hands; David, the fearless boy who fought the mighty Goliath with a sling; Bali, the monkey king of formidable strength; Arjuna the greatest archer; and his son, Abhimanyu, the valiant prince who died young. His favorite stories were those from the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

G Mohanan, a gifted painter, a prominent interior designer, and a close friend of Joseph, was the first to discover Clint's genius. When Joseph asked him to be Clint's mentor, Mohanan felt that he was unqualified for the job as he would have absolutely nothing to teach Clint. Art was in every pulse of his self. As he grew up, Clint considered Mohanan his mentor and a kindred spirit.

Shortly after he turned three, Clint was diagnosed with a debilitating kidney disease. His belly ballooned up, his limbs were swollen, and he was exhausted most of the time. Battling the ailment, he relentlessly created art that was at once engrossingly real and masterly nuanced, on themes as deep and dense as death, solitude, and love. When Chinnamma massaged his cramped right hand, he drew with his left hand.

As doctors and hospitals abandoned all hope, Joseph heard about Dr. Joseph Abraham, a renowned Homeopathic doctor. It was him who brought Clint back from the jaws of death to the greener pastures of health and wellbeing.

For the next two years, Clint lived a life replete with good health and unrestrained creative expression. He started school and became popular as the adorable boy with a soul that emanated unalloyed beauty and art.

Around this time, Clint participated in art competitions and won prizes and accolades. His crowning glory was the first prize and gold medal for the best child artist at the painting competition organized by Universal Arts at Kozhikode, Kerala. The drawing contest was one of the most prestigious of its kind in India.

Clint did not care for awards and recognition. He had an insatiable yearning of the heart for answers that have eluded most of the humanity from the dawn of time: "Where do we come from? Where do we go when we die? And why do we die?"

A month short of his seventh birthday, following a brief illness, Clint died. Moments before he slipped into a coma, Clint whispered to his mother, "It's nothing, mummy… I might suddenly fall asleep. I might not wake up when you call me… I am just sleeping. Please don't be sad, mummy… Please don't cry." Clint never woke up from that sleep.

Edmund Thomas Clint left a legacy of more than 25000 paintings and drawings.

At Clint's art exhibitions, people queued up defying the sweltering heat of the tropical sun to avail the opportunity to partake in Clint' magic of colors and lines. So far a hundred exhibitions have been organized in his home state of Kerala and have introduced more than a million to Clint's world.