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The 40s and the 50s
: Independence of India was not entirely a matter
of celebration for Bengal, as it had to now endure the long
suffering arising out of the partition of Bengal. Till the end of
1960s, art of Bengal was dominated by partition issues than anything
else. Ritwik Ghatak's entire body of works was dictated by the
concerns of the refugees. Majority of Bengal's artists had also
their roots in the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) including
Ganesh Paine,
Jogen
Chaudhuri, etc. Artists like
Zainul
Abedin
left for Bangladesh
where he worked since then rather independently. This division in the
artist community remained a great loss to Bengal.
The 60s and the 70s
: In the 1960s, came the next major change in art
as Bengal started getting increasingly involved in left-wing
politics. By 1970s, Naxalism was sweeping across Eastern India. Many
artists of the time had openly supported the movement, while others
like Prokash Karmakar
had painted canvases in their support.
The 80s : The third phase of
Bengal's post-independence art came with the end of Naxalism, and with
the left parties firmly in power. But this phase found the artists of
Bengal groping for issues to paint about. Culturally this was not a very
active phase. Some notable artists of this phase had been Sameer Aich,
Sanat Kar, Jayashree Burman and Manik Talukdar.
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Painting of
Sameer Aich |
The 90s and new
century : In 90s, a gradual change was observed in the
field of art as the country was getting liberalized and artists were
getting exposed to many international trends. Thus
Post-liberalization phase is a brand
new phase in art. Among the various new artists,
Devajyoti Ray
best represents this new
vibrancy. With new idioms of expression and entirely newer languages of
art, this phase once again put Bengal in the art map of India.
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The independence of
India brought in two major changes in Indian art. Firstly it made the
erstwhile mood of rebellion against the British quite irrelevant.
Secondly the artists had now to create an Indian art which would be
appreciated by the jubilant Indian crowd free from the yolk of
colonialism. Thus in nutshell one had to create nationalist art work
without rebellion.
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Etching by
Somenath Hore |
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This problem was sought to be tackled by
artists in various ways. In Bombay the young artists like MF
Hussain, FN Souza, SH Raza and Akbar Padamsee formed
Progressive Artists Group. In Calcutta
artists like
Paritosh Sen and
Pradosh Dasgupta started the
Calcutta
Group
. Both this groups worked in parallel
for sometime, then both broke and the artists charted their independent
careers. The artists tried to capture the moments of glory in Indian
political and economic scapes. But in course of time themes became passé
and what artists mostly worked on was once again style. In terms of
style post-independence Bengal was truly majestic. |
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A painting by Zainul
Abedin, one of the founding members of Calcutta Group. Below painting in
Gouache medium by veteran artist Pritish Ganguli |
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Along with style artists of Bengal have
worked in various media. Such varied use of media has not been
seen in any other part of India. These included
Oil (Bikash
Bhattacharya,
Sanjay
Bhattacharya), Watercolours (Shyamal Duttaroy,
Paresh Maiti),
Acrylic (Devajyoti Ray), Gouache ( Ganesh
Haloi), Conte (Ganesh
Pyne), Collage (BR Panesar,
Shakila), Etching (Somenath Hore),
Mixed Media
, Graphics, Tempera (Ganesh paine), Intaglio, wood0cut and linocut,
etc. In fact there had hardly been any media that the Kolkata based artists have not worked in.
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This was truly an explosion of ideas and
styles in art in India and it was to show the way to the new generation
of the artists of the future. Collage, appliqué, installation works were
to show the way to the more complex multidisciplinary art of the new
generation.
The
post liberalization phase of
Indian economy has brought in now newer and swifter changes.
People from outside the realm of fine-art training are
entering the field and making their mark in the art world. Art
has truly undergone a sea change over the past ten years and
the ideals and ideas of the old Bengal is giving way to new
ideas.
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A line drawing by
Ramananda Bandhopadhyay |
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