Calcutta Group

In 1943, erstwhile Calcutta bore the brunt of a terrible famine that ravaged Bengal. The famine,
which killed millions, was said to have been triggered by the wrong policies of the ruling British
Government. This unprecedented devastation steered several artists into looking a new at their
visual language.
A group of young artists decided to reject the lyricism and the romanticism seen in the work of
earlier Bengali artists. Six among them formed the Calcutta Group. The founder members were
sculptors Pradosh Dasgupta, his wife Kamala, painters Gopal Ghosh, Nirode Majumdar, Paritosh
Sen and Subho Tagore. Others like Pran Krishna Pal, Govardhan Ash and Bansi Chandragupta
joined later.
This group of artists expressed the need for a visual language that could reflect the crisis of urban
society. For the first time in modern Indian art, artists began to paint images that evoked anguish
and trauma and reflected the urban situation. Rural scenes were no longer purely idyllic, and the
formal treatment of the paintings began to reflect the influence of European modernism.
Calcutta Group
The Calcutta Group of artists came into existence in 1943 as a response to the famine Bengal famine that
year which killed thousands and provoked scenes that shook the conscience of the state. Other
contributory factors were the effects of World War II, causing prices to spiral and heightened political
activity (Gandhi's Quit India call). The situation seemed to artists in Bengal to demand a response from
them which the Bengal School sensibility, whatever its other achievements, may not help adequately in
generating.
The founders of the group were Prodosh Dasgupta, who was primarily a sculptor, and the painters Gopal
Ghosh, Rathin Maitra, Nirode Mazumdar, Subho Tagore and Prankrishna Pal; they were later joined by
Abani Sen, Sunilmadhab Sen, Gobardhan Ash, Krishna Pal, Bansi Chandragupta and Hemanta Mishra.
The artists professed humanistic ideals and, in their work, attempted to show their sense of concern in a
language that combined the Bengali pictorial idiom with the contemporary modernist manner. Gopal
Ghosh, for instance, patterned his lines on the style adapted by Nandalal Bose of the Bengal School from
Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. This was in keeping with the groups manifesto which demanded that
art should be "international and interdependent."
The group's work, exhibited both in Calcutta and Bombay received wide praise, including from the writers
such as Mulk Raj Anand and E. M. Forster. The critic Rudy Von Leyden wrote: "They have sought to
imbibe a far more vital feeling from contemporary Far Eastern and European Art than their elders did. But
this is not to suggest that they are in any sense imitative, for their love of the people and the old folk
culture of Bengal roots them in the long Bengal tradition."
# In 1941, the year Rabindrananth Tagore and Amrita Sher Gil died, eight young artists formed
the Calcutta Group (1940-1953) who worked on the idea that art should aim to be international and
interdependent. Six painters Subho Tagore, Gopal Ghose, Raithin Maitra, Prankrishna Pal, Paritosh
Sen, Nirode Mazumdar and two sculptors Prodosh Das Gupta and Kamala Das Gupta had a very
liberal attitude towards borrowing from the outside world that which would best assist them in expressing
their concern: their immediate social environment. They were determined to steer Bengal away from

wallowing in romantic nostalgia and their stated influences were Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh,
Braque and Brancusi. These artists were not interested in gods and goddesses, the Epics and Purana
which they felt had no role in society which should place man as the supreme being and thus occupy a
central role in the concept of aesthetic expression. Nirode Mazumdar was the first artist to receive a
scholarship by the French government to visit Paris in 1946 and Paritosh Sen is the only Indian artist to
have met Picasso.
The country's independence from colonial rule in 1947 might have seemed like the right moment for a
form of expression that would match the significance of the occasion. However, it appears that art does
not always take its cues from events seen as historical or defining; and if it does, seems to make
references that appear to veer sharply from the direct. The so-called 'artists of transition', for instance,
seem to be engrossed in a contemplation of life's simpler pursuits, the everyday, small and trivial.
Perhaps it was a way of suggesting that now that the overriding objective had been attained, it was time
to savour the pure sense of being alive. These artists, among them Sailoz Mukherjea, N.S. Bendre, K.K.
Hebbar, Shiavax Chavda and K.H. Ara, seem at peace with life around and feel they must capture its
fleeting, and now intensely more joyous, moments. This innocent interlude is characterised by simplified
forms and lively colours.
The Government College of Art & Craft in Kolkata is one of the oldest Art colleges in India. It was
founded on August 16, 1854 at Garanhata, Chitpur, "with the purpose of establishing an institution for
teaching the youth of all classes, industrial art based on scientific methods." as the School of Industrial
Art. The institute was later renamed as the Government School of Art and in 1951 it became the
Government College of Art & Craft.[1]
History
The school opened on August 16, 1854 at Garanhata as a private art school. The school was shifted to
the building of Mutty Lall Seal in Colootola in November, 1854. In 1859, Garick joined as Head Teacher. In
1864, it was taken over by the government and on June 29, 1864 Henry Hover Locke joined as its
principal. It was soon renamed as the Government School of Art. Locke made a comprehensive scheme
of Curriculum of studies for the institution. The venue of the school was shifted to 166, Bowbazar Street in
the 1880s. After the death of Locke on December 25, 1885 M. Schaumburg became the new principal. A
new post of an Assistant Principal was created and on January 29, 1886 an Italian artist O. Ghilardi joined
the post. In February, 1892 the institute was shifted to its present site adjacent to the Indian Museum.
After the death of its principal, Jobbins Ernest Binfield Havel joined the school as its principal on July 6,
1896.[1]
Havell, Brown and Abanindranath
From 1896-1905 Ernest Binfield Havel was the principal. He attempted to reform teaching to emphasise
Indian traditions, leading to the emergence of the style known as the Bengal school of art.Percy
Brown was the next principal, who took over from the officiating Principal Abanindranath Tagore on
January 12, 1909. He served as Principal up to 1927. [1] From August 15, 1905 to 1915,Abanindranath

Tagore was the Vice-Principal of the college, and worked towards developing an Indian style of Art, which
gave birth to the Bengal school of art [2], an agenda that was to be pursued at the Kala
Bhavan, Shantiniketan.
Mukul Dey as principal
On July 11, 1928 Mukul Chandra Dey became its first Indian principal. In October 1931, it started its
quarterly magazine, Our Magazine, which published the reproductions of the works of its students and the
Chintamoni Kar as principal
For a long period in the 60s and 70s, the it was headed by Chintamoni Kar, who was appointed Principal
on August 1, 1956.[1]

PARITOSH SEN

BEGINNINGS
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 1943 Founder member, Calcutta
Group, Calcutta. Meeting Picasso remains a landmark in his life.
Wrote on art in leading English and Bengali journals. 1986
Wrote and illustrated a story in English, published by NID,
Ahmedabad. 1998 Biographical film, One Day in the Life of a
Celebrity, broadcasted on Doordarshan, Calcutta. Lives and
works in Kolkata.

. Lives and works in Kolkata.

EDUCATION
1936-40 Studied at Govt. School of Art, Madras. 1949 Studied
at Andre Lhotes School, Academy Grand Chaumier, cole
Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris. 1954 Studied Art Appreciation
at cole du Louvre, Paris.
EXHIBITIONS
1950 Solo exhb. in Brussels. 1951 Group exhb. in London.
1953 Solo exhb. in Paris. 1961 Joint exhb. with Tyeb Mehta.
1962 Solo exhb. in London. 1966 The Commonwealth Arts
Festival, London. 1966 Sao Paolo Beinnale, Brazil. 1966 Asahi
Shimbun Exhb. of Art, Tokyo. 1972 Four Indian Painters,
Pittsburgh. 1978 Solo exhb. in Moscow. 1986 2nd Biennale,
Cuba. 1986 Trends in Bengal Art, Commonwealth Institute,
London. 2004 Manifestations II, organised by Delhi Art
Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery,
New Delhi. 2005 Manifestations III, organised by Delhi Art
Gallery, Nehru Center, Mumbai and Lalit Kala Akademi, New
Delhi.
STYLE
Sens more recognizable works are his caricatures, which
reflect strong underlying socio-political issues, and his female
nude drawings. His drawings and paintings are noted for their
strong lines and bold, stylized strokes. Although colour is an
important aspect of his paintings, it is the human figure,
expressing a myriad of emotions that dominates his art. A

recurrent subject in Sen`s works is his depiction of scenes

from everyday urban life. These activities are portrayed from a
skeptical and impassive perspective, which is trademark Sen.
In his career, Sen has worked in various media. From the
stylized to the capacious, expressionist figures, he has
traversed a long way. But there are continuities, in that the
drawing with bold, vigorous strokes, the use of volume,
figuration and sharp irony still remain an integral part of his
work.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Art Teacher, Daly College, Indore, for ten years. 1956-79
Taught at Regional Institute of Printing Technology, Jadavpur.
Till 1976 Professor, School of Printing Technology, Calcutta.
1981-82 Visiting Professor and Artist in residence, Maryland
University, USA.

When Paritosh Sen sat down with Pablo Picasso in the 1950s, the master had only promised
the younger artist 15 minutes of his time. The two men talked for five hours, and the
meeting left a deep and lasting impression on Sen. "Picasso's works and methods taught me
more than what I was prepared for and it took me some time to assimilate the concepts and
integrate them with my own work," he recalled.
Sen met Picasso at his studio in Rue des Grands Augustins, having left the subcontinent to
study art in various Paris art colleges. He spent five years in the city before returning to
India. In Calcutta, he joined a newly opened school of printing and technology, and worked
as a professor of design and layout. Several years later he returned to France, where he was
commissioned by the authorities to design Bengali typography based on a script by
Rabindranath Tagore.
His association with Tagore, the Bengali poet and playwright, was entirely fitting. Born in
Dhaka (which is now in Bangladesh but was then in the eastern part of Bengal), Sen came
to be considered the high priest of modern Bengali art. During the various phases of his
career he worked with different media and the nature of his work changed, shifting from the
highly stylised to the impressionistic. He always liked strong, sensuous colours and human
figures.
Throughout his life he was prolific. An early-to-rise routine that involved painting for four
hours each day meant that every year he could produce up to 130 works. "My technique is
such that I am a very fast worker," he once said. "My experience of over 60 to 70 years is a
valuable asset. It has given me a certain facility."
Sen was born one of 20 children in a family well known as ayurvedic healers. He later wrote
a memoir, Jindabahar Lane, named after the street where his family lived. After finishing his
schooling he ran away from home to join the Madras Art School, which was headed by Devi
Prasad Roy Chowdhury. His fellow-students included the painters K.C.S. Panicker and
Prodosh Dasgupta.

After completing art school he went to teach at a college in Indore. Then in the early 1940s
he and others formed what would be known as the Calcutta Group, a movement that
infused the already flourishing Bengal school of art with new life and expression.
Having returned to India after his visits to Europe in 1969 he received the French
Fellowship for Designing and Typeface Sen received a Rockefeller Fellowship grant
enabling him to work in New York. On his return to India he created an installation on
violence. His link with the United States endured; in 1981-82 he was the artist-in-residence
at the Maryland Institute of Art, in Baltimore. Four years later he accepted a similar position
at the National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, where he taught a course in
illustration.
Sen had held a major exhibition two years ago and friends say he had been working shortly
before he was taken ill.

GOBARDHAN ASH

BEGINNINGS
He was born in Begumpur, Hoogly District, West Bengal. He was born into a betelgrowing family. 1930 He participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement, resulted in
his loss of scholarship. 1931 Founder of `Younger Artist Union`. 1933 Under the
leadership of Atul Bose, he was one of the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts,
Calcutta. 1933 Formed and became the Secretary of the `Art Rebel Centre`, with the
host of like minded young painters. He was artistically active during the World War II
and the Bengal Famine of 1943. 1944-45 Supervisor Artist, Central Ordnance Depot,
Agra Fort. 1945 Ash was brought into the publics eye when the Progressive Writers
Association discovered his series of painting on the Bengal Famine. 1946-48 Chief
Artist, Indian Institute of Art in Industry, Calcutta. 1950 Joined the `Calcutta Group`.
1956 Founder of `Fine Arts Mission`, Begumpur.

EDUCATION
1926-30 Studied at Govt. College of Arts & Craft, Calcutta. 1930-32 Student of D.P.
Roychoudhury, Govt. College of Art & Craft, Madras. 1932 He came back to Calcutta
and was especially trained by Atul Bose.
STYLE
He is primarily known for natural and other sceneries in Oil. In his early life his works
showed the influence of the academic style but later was attracted towards
impressionism and this led to a creation of an individualistic style of his own, which has
many charming facets but most characterised by simplified folk forms and figures
evoked in naive or steady thick outlines in a space daubed with dashes and small
patches of opaque paint.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1953-55 Professor, Indian College of Art and Draughtmanship, Calcutta. Examiner,
Faculty of Visual Art, Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta.

Gobardhan Ash ( 1907 - 96 ), a serious turn in the art scene of Bengal occurred during the 30s of this
century and a new trend was set in the works of Rabindra Nath Tagore and Jamini Roy. This trend could
be considered a counterpart of Abanindra Naths Bengal School. Budding artists of this period took new
interest about Western European Modern Art movements and gradually a powerful young group started
experimenting in various media. Gobardhan Ash was born in the year 1907 in a remote village, Begampur
of Hooghly district in West Bengal to a family solely dependent on agricultural income. A young
Gobardhan came to metropolis Calcutta with ardent desire for art training. He was a student of Indian Art
College and was deeply influenced by Debiprasad Roy Chowdhuri and Atul Basu.
In the formative period of his career as an artist, Gobardhan experienced a severely rude shock during
the 1943 Bengal Famine. This man made famine during World War II deeply influenced the conscience of
Bengal and left its deep mark on contemporary literature, theatre and art. Particularly Gobardhan Ash and
his contemporaries like Zainul Abedin, Chitta Prasad, Somnath Hor tasted the assault of British
imperialism on Indian reality. And this severe experience changed the entire mode of their artistic
expressiveness. Gobardhan Ash painted a series of famine scenes depicting endless human misery.
Technically his famine paintings differed from his contemporaries. He used to paint in colour (both oil and
water), while others preferred black and white and graphics medium.
Possibly this experience influenced Gobardhan to look deep into the human life in Bengal villages and
formed the basic theme and motivation for his life long paintings. He also preferred to leave metropolis
and live in his native village. In his mature period in 1950 he joined the well known Calcutta group, the

association which dominated Indian Art scenario for a considerable period. Artists like Pradosh Dasgupta,
Gopal Ghosh, Prankrishna Pal, Rathin Mitra and others belonged to this group. An uncompromising artist,
Gobardhan Ash himself formed a group named Art Rebel Centre in 1933 and his endeavour was to set an
alternative trend in art world. He left behind a rich collection of paintings in oil, water colour and pastel.
His contribution towards establishing oil medium in Bengal art is considerable. A painter extraordinary,
Gobardhan Ash had a social commitment the kind of which is rare among the artists today.

MUKUL DEY

Artist Profile

He was born at Sridharkhola, Dhaka. His grandfather, Mahim

Chandra Dey, was a leading Pleader of his time at Dhubri,

Mymensingh. His father, Kula Chandra Dey, was a poet and

was in the service of the Govt. of Bengal. 1907 When he was
eleven years old, he came to Calcutta from Ghatal. In Calcutta
his father took him to Rabindranath Tagore, at his house at
Jorasanko. He also got the opportunity to meet Abaindranath
Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore in Jorasanko, both
brothres criticised and corrected his sketches. From 1911 his
paintings began to find place in the monthly magazines
published in Calcutta, such as `Prabashi`, `Modern Review`,
`Bharatvarsa` and `Bharati`. Mr. W.W. Pearson inspired him
to work with dry point, by giving him some copper plates to
scratch with a steel pointed needle and used to send those
plates to London to be printed as it was not possible to print
them in India. 1916 Accompanied Rabindranath Tagore to
Japan and USA. 1916 In Japan.

EDUCATION

1900 He began his school lessons at the Hamilton High

School, Tamluk, Midnapore.

1905-12 Brahmacharya Ashram, Santiniketan.

1912-15 Art Education from Abanindranath Tagore,

Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

1916 Mrs. Bertha E. Jaques first taught him the art of

printing from copper plates in her own studio. Also
under Mr. J. Blanding Sloan, he had a course of training
in etching, Chicago.

1920 Studied at the Slade School of Art, under Prof.

Henry Tonks and Prof. W.W. Russell.

1920-22 Joined Royal College of Art with a scholarship,

where he took up the School of Painting as his subject,
but he continued to learn etching under Sir Frank
Short, and he was the first Indian to receive the
Diploma in Mural Painting, South Kensington, London.

STYLE
Mukul Dey was the `first Indian etcher` and his astonishing
achievement was in the medium `both by way of landscape
genre and portraits`. And his forte was drypoint - directly
working the sharp - pointed needle on the hard, burnished
metal plate, in deep and shallow flow of lines, in literally

thousand cross-hatches. And with the needle he had as much

effortless facility as he had with chalk, charcoal or conte on
paper. A pioneer in the art and craft of intaglio printmaking,
he played an important role in popularising the art of
printmaking among the Indian artists. He was perhaps the
first Indian to take up printmaking as a highly individuated
means of artistic expression, instead of as a technique of
reproduction. Also he had become famous all over India for his
portraits of the celebrities of his time.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1913-14 Art Teacher, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. 1917 Taught
at Vichitra Art School, Jorasanko, Calcutta. 1928-43 First
Indian Principal of the Government School of Art and Craft,
Calcutta. Throughout his active career he was on the Visiting
Faculties in numerous universities and institutions in the USA,
Europe, Japan and in India, lecturing on different aspects of
Indian Art and Civilization.

PRADOSH DASGUPTA

BEGINNINGS
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 1940-50 Set up a studio in Calcutta and worked as a freelance artist. 1942 Founder member, Calcutta Group, Calcutta. 1950 He visited twice to
the South East Asian countries to gain a first-hand knowledge of the arts of those
countries. Fellow, Royal Society of Arts, London. 1956 Published a book, `My
Sculpture`. 1957-70 Curator, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. 1957-70
Member of the General and Executive Council , Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. 1959
Visited Russia, as a member of the Lalit Kala Akademi`s Artists Delegation. 1960
Presided by invitation, Congress of the International Association of Plastic Arts, Vienna.
1963 Attended the Congress of the International Association of Art and was re-elected
as its Executive Board Member for another 3 years. He was invited by the US Govt.
under Leader`s Grant. 1965 Attended a conference on art education as an Indian
delegate, London. 1966 Participated in Seminar, Indian Institute of Advanc.

EDUCATION
1932 Graduated from the Calcutta University, Calcutta. 1932-33 Received his first
training in sculpture under distinguished teacher, Mr. Hironmoy Roychowdhury, Govt.
School of Art, Lucknow. 1937-39 Studied under Mr. D.P. Roychowdhury, Govt. College of

Art, Madras. 1937-39 Studied sculpture, Royal Academy of Arts, London, under Mr. W.
Macmillan R. A. Also learnt bronze casting in the evening classes, LCC Central School,
London. Later studied at Ecole de Grand Chaumiere, Paris.
STYLE
`Naturally, he brings the self-conscious individuality of a modern artist into this very old
medium. His canons of art are, as they should be, of the contemporary mind in India
today. But his love of the body- of man, woman or trees links his work with the great
tradition of Indian sculpture. There is no essential aesthetic conflict between the art of
India of the part and the demands of modern art, with its emphasis on the individuals,
conscious concern with canons which have to be discovered a new and with a frightful
honesty or purity of purpose with every single work. Prodosh Das Gupta`s work adds to
our genuine enjoyment of art, and, further, it helps us to realise this truth.` - Bishnu
Dey
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1950 Appointed Reader of Sculpture Deptt., Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao
University, Baroda. 1951 He was called back to join as Professor of Sculpture,
Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta. 1962 Was invited by ISMEO, to give
lectures on Contemporary Indian Art, Rome.

ABANI SEN
BEGINNINGS
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 1932 Founder member, The Young Artists Union and
later Art Rebel Center, Calcutta. 1933 Assistant Secretary, Academy of Fine Arts,
Calcutta.
EDUCATION
Graduated from Govt. School of Art, Calcutta.
STYLE
One of the early Indian modernists, Abani Sen remained till the end an unswerving
individualist, daring experimenter and a dedicated teacher. The various inflections
of realism we find in Daumier, Czanne and Van Gogh, and the techniques of modern
art, were all internalized and indigenized by him. His masterly handling of different

media shows ceaseless interaction between the indigenous and the alien, the past
and the present.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1948 Art Teacher, Raisina High School and Sarada Ukil School of Art, New Delhi
We live and serve the slice of time we are placed in. The life of artist Abani Sen unfolded in
an agitated, catastrophic and clouded period of Indias history. The times posed many
challenges for Indians of all hues and calling. The most important was to unite India as a
nation of people to fight the demeaning imperialist yoke of British Empire.
The year 1905 in Indias history is important. It was the year of first partition of Bengal. It
also effectively implemented in Bengal the policy of divide and rule by British Imperialists.
But it also fired the Indian Nationalism against British rule. In this year of political turmoil
was born Abani Senthe artist whose sterling contribution to art of the period was
substantial. Somehow he seemed to have been consigned an opaque, nearly forgotten
existence in the annals of art of the period. While we know a lot about his famous
contemporaries, the students of art and art history seem nearly ignorant of his contribution
at least outside Bengal. Vijay Lakshmi Dogra the soft spoken suave Art Indus gallery owner
in Delhi should be thanked for removing the dust of time on Abani Sens art by organising a
largeexhibition of his work and bringing out a professionally produced book Whispered
Legacy edited by Ina Puri.
Reverting back to backdrop of times in which Abani Sen waged aesthetic battles through his
creativity. We know that first five decades of twentieth century were full of upheavals and
trauma for humankind. The first partition of Bengal galvanised Bengal and the rest of India
in a nationalistic fervour and led to the birth of Swadeshi Movement. It was during this
period that Indian National Congress emerged as a pan India entity to fight for freedom
from the yoke of British Imperial bondage.
It is necessary to be familiar with other catastrophic happenings till about Indias
independence from British yoke. The First World War and the 1920s Great Depression
caused havoc to people and especially to peasantry. For Bengal the misfortune was
accentuated not only by the II World War but far greater was the misery to people because
of the manmade or rather British Raj made Bengal Famine of 1943-1944. Around 4 million
people died of starvation; the civilian and military sexual abuse of starving women and girls
was the side show of this imposed inhumanity. (Refer Jane Austen and Black Hole of British
History a book by Dr Gideon Polya)
How could the artists remain aloof from this chain of upheavals castrating the social psyche
of an ancient proud people?
The early Bengal school and the later day Avante Guarde Bengal artists explored new vistas,
styles and fresh expressions to translate the mayhem wrought on the innocent people of
their land. The artists working during this epoch especially Nandlal Bose, Rabindranath
Tagore, Hemen Majumdar, Ram Kinkar Baij, Pradosh Das Gupta, B.B. Mukherjee, Abani Sen,
Nirod Majumdar, Gobardhan Ash, Chitto Prasad, Zainul Abedin, Somnath Hore and many
more would provide a new freshness, national and social concern to the Bengal art. The last
three artists would paint the Bengal famine with power and telling effect.
Abani Sen thus inherited the socio-politico-economic situation of his times to which he was a
witness and a sufferer. His art from the beginning did not focus on depicting the dark
happenings of the time. Abani chose instead to work through evocation and metaphor. He
did not directly paint pain and suffering of the people as did Chitto Prasad, Zainul Abedin,
Somnath Hore and others. He painted from his subconscious. As a child he had grown in the
verdant nature-kissed land of Bengal. It was this he drew upon as a source for his art
forever. He painted landscapes, animals birds and ordinary people in the street. He did not
overtly record the happenings of the period. But in a subtle depiction of moods he conveyed

sadness and melancholia that inhabited whole society. His agitated handling of pictorial
space, use of black and grey, and whimsical line albeit suggestive of Chinese and Japanese
style rendering conveyed a sombre mood.
His bulls, horses, elephants, birds and the lion family (1968) are rendered to bring out the
character of the animals and their moods in nick of time. There is strong element of
expressionism in many renderings of animals specially when he works in water colour.
Abani Sens art was influenced by a variety of movements and styles. You can find
semblance of the BATHERS by Cezanne in his 1962 oil painting or the touching simplicity
and directness of nave and folk art in his ink drawing from 1962 of a woman holding
chicken. Looking further on his oeuvre you come across his minimalist handling and control
of line like a Zen maestro (page 48 watercolour in Whispered Legacy). He also uses
geometric linear simplification of forms like in the cowherds of 1965 watercolour. Apart from
KS Kulkarni one finds the resonance of this geometric divisionism of forms in the works of
Prof. Niren Sen Gupta and the young artist Neeraj Goswami.
A theme that Abani Sen painted persistently and repeatedly is the mother and child. He
focused on the gestural rendering of line to convey the soft mother child relation. Like
always he excelled while working in water colours and ink. In most difficult of the times a
mother is protective of her child and the Bengal Famine was a period when the motherhood
and human values were tested to the core. Abani Sens mother child works from around this
period are highly evocative of love, care and protective shield of a mother for her progeny.
Abani Sen worked in variety of styles because as a guru he taught his students differing
paths to creative expression. But if you look around you can find his best. His man with a
rose and seated woman in a landscape (page 29) is a masterpiece of expression, modernity
and exquisite emotions. His 1968 watercolour of lion family is a powerful work. One has to
understand that all works from great artists are not masterpieces, whether you talk of
Picasso or Hussain. It will require effort to cull out the best of Abani Sen and to focus on his
creative journey that was not only modernist but visionary. There are traces of academism
in quite a few of his works but they are not the foundation of his art.
For long (since 1948) he worked in Delhi where he had a long association with fellow artists
and his students. On the opening of his retrospective exhibition by Art Indus at LKA recently
I discovered many a senior artists who were associated with him as students or otherwise.
The nostalgia flowed back about an artist who worked hard for his art and to create a new
generation of artists in his studio.
I do not know whether all the works in the exhibition have been documented/exhibited
earlier? The efforts of Ms. Ina Puri and Ms.Vijay Lakshmi have created documentation which
would help build authenticated pricing for his works in future. Few words on the book by Ina
Puri. All paintings are without titles. In case there are no titles to the works, for easy
reference they should have been numbered. Also for some works there is no detail i.e. year
medium size (works on pages 11, 27, 34-35, 48, 66-67). There is a blunder in the 12-14
lines of third paragraph on page 17. Abani Sen was now much married and father of four
children. As I understand that Abani Sen was married only once and never was much
married like Picasso, Bertrand Russell or Salman Rushdie.
These glitches can be taken care of in the next print of the book. Though one can say some
of the archival photographs of the time of Abani Sen are really precious. Also useful are the
analysis and impressions about the impresario Abani Sen by Santo Dutta, Prof.Rajiv
Lochans account saturated with childhood memories retailed from his father Ranvir Saksena
another illustrious student of the maestro, K.K. Nairs comments on Abanis art and his
son Ranjan Sens empathic memories of his father. It is unfortunate that another bright and
famous student Manjit Bawa (brought to Abani by his elder brother Manmohan Singh) lies
seriously ailing. Well known artists Jagdish Dey, Umesh Verma, Ranjan Sen and many others
found their artistic rudders in the studio of Abani Sen, Art historian Sovon Soms writing on
Abani Sens art is incisive. I hope this exhibition and the book will awaken interest in the

art of Abani Sen and allow art historians to take a fresh look at the oeuvre of this forgotten
genious.
JAMINI PRAKASH

Gangopadhyaya, Jamini Prakash (d 1953) artist and sculptor. A nephew of Rabindranath Tagore,
Jamini Prakash, in his early life, was a student of British painter CL Palmer. Later he joined the Calcutta
Government Art School, where he came in contact with an eminent artist Pulin Kunda, and as his
associate he became adept in the western style of painting.
In 1916, when Abanindranath Tagore left the Calcutta Art School, Jamini Prakash was appointed its VicePrincipal. Whenever Mr Percy Brown, the Principal, got any commission for oil painting he used to hand
over the work to Jamini Prakash, who excelled in that media of painting. Jamini Prakash hardly worked in
watercolour. Yet, due to his expertise in that media too, he used to instruct students who worked in
watercolour. He also supervised the works of students who did experimental works in oil. He excelled in
portrait painting and rendered most of his paintings in red, red ochre and verdigris. For landscape
paintings he used yellowish tone, sky blue, crimson and Prussian blue. He himself made different
pigments for his paintings and discouraged his students to use artificial colors available in the market.
The paintings of Jamini Prakash pervade a sense of serenity. Like most of his contemporaries he used to
select religious themes from Indian epics as his subject of paintings. Besides, he drew portraits and
landscapes. Some of his noteworthy paintings are 'Raja Shudraker Sabhay Shuka-Shari', 'Buddher
Grhatyag', 'Shri Krsner Yugal Rupa', 'Sharabane Kartik', 'Pujarini', 'Birahi Yaksa', 'Sandhya Aradhana'.
Reproduction of some of his famous paintings, such as 'Dinmojur', 'Pujarini', 'Sandhya Aradhana' were
published in Sahitya and Prabasi, two famous journals of his time. In the last years of his life he earned
fame through an exquisite painting entitled 'Ulka', in which he applied thick coat of paints on country
made coarse jute canvas.
An unparalleled artist of the early nineteenth century, Jamini Prakash excelled in portraiture and
landscape. He drew numerous paintings of views of the Himalayas and the Kanchanjangha. He also
painted scenes of fishing boats and fleet of merchants' boats with bloated sail floating on the estuary of
rivers. Each of his paintings displayed novelty in composition and was mystic and colourful, reminiscent
of European Impressionistic style, where fleeting light on play of color are noticeable.
The name and fame of Jamini Prakash spread so far and wide in the early and mid nineteenth century that
many royal families and zamindars bought his paintings at high prices just as a symbol of aristocracy.
Students of Jamini Prakash Gangopadhaya - Jamini Roy, Atul Basu, Satish Sinha and Bashanta Ganguly became renowned artists. [Najma Khan Majlish]