Lot#36 || Chittaprosad Bhattacharya (1915-1978)
UNTITLED (Hunters) (1945)

CATALOGUE NOTES
Chittaprosad was a self-taught artist and illustrator born in Bengal. Well known for his print works he preferred to use linocuts and woodcuts. The prints were meant to be easily and cheaply created for the masses so they could be widely disseminated amongst the local populace. Chittaprosad witnessed the Bengal Famine in 1943 and he saw the atrocities of a man-made famine firsthand. His works are a protest against colonialism urban poverty and economic exploitation. Chittaprosad's artistic oeuvre is a revolution against the tyranny of domination and social injustice at that time. In 1943 - 44 Bhattacharya blatantly depicted the grim realities of the Bengal Famine through profuse sketches in stark black and white copies of which were seized and destroyed by the British. This work depicts the Santhal Rebellion in 1855. The Santhals, the Mundas, the Oraons, and the Kols from the western districts of Bengal rose in revolt against the distorted revenue system imposed by the British East India Company and supported by the local zamindars and the police.