Bengal is known for its art, literature and music. And let’s say, three artists of Bengal have come to the capital to exhibit their work. Print: Three Masters is an exhibition showcasing the depth of thoughts of the three maestros of Bengal representing their urge of experimenting with art forms at an early stage. The exhibition has displayed works by artists Chittoprasad Bhattacharya, Haren Das and Somenath Hore.
The artists have left their unique creativity behind and has given us an opportunity to explore it more. Bhattacharya’s works reflect his reformist concerns. They are a depiction of the images that were his preoccupation - poor peasants and labourers.
His hard-hitting caricatures and sketches of the poor dying in the Bengal famine (1943) worked like modern day reportage, and shook the middle class and the British officials out of their apathy. Today, collectors and lovers of art treasure Bhattacharya’s woodcuts, linocuts and posters immensely.
Haren Das is considered to be one of the finest graphic artistes India has ever produced, especially of woodcuts. Das introduced line engraving and etching into the art curriculum of the Government College of Arts and Crafts, thus laying the foundation for print making and graphic art education in India.
Most of his works, especially his woodcuts and engravings, captured rural, pastoral Bengal. Despite using restraint and economy, Das has managed to offer a glimpse of a Bengal that no longer exists.
In his works, the artiste depicts man as part of nature, an individual who lives in harmony with the elements surrounding him. His works talk of cobbled streets, buffaloes, the village well, women with pots on their heads. Somnath Hore was born in the village of Barama in Chittagong, now in Bangladesh. At a very early age, Hore started making posters . A lifetime of inventive experiments with etching, intaglio and lithographs culminated in the abstract.
Dramatized with a spot of red, the white on white prints reflected the political turbulence of the times. Prints were taken with paper pulp pressed on moulded cement matrices. The moulds were made from originals done in clay. Hore then began doing bronze sculptures.
Hore’s figuration has always reflected the anguished human body.
His sculpture is no different but the imprint of the hand of the creator is more startlingly manifest in his sculptures. The torn and rugged surfaces, rough planes with slits and holes, subtle modelling and axial shifts, exposed channels, all make for exciting visual and tactile sculptures.
To understand better what the artists from the land of art have to put forward, you’ll need to go and observe yourself!
Where: Art Indus, 37 Santushti Shopping Complex, Opp Ashok Samrat Hotel, Chanakyapuri
When: 5 - 28 June
Timing:11 am - 8 pm