Born in 1898 in Mymensingh, Bengal was known as a portrait painter. He studied at the Jubilee Academy in Calcutta in 1914 and then at the government art school in 1916, and began his career an artist in Bengal. Bose's Bengal Tiger, a sketch of the educationist Ashutosh Mukherjee, earned him a scholarship to the Royal Academy in London in 1924.
At the Royal Academy, Bose was influenced by the post-impressionist Walter Sickert. Upon his return to India, Bose taught at the Government Art School in Calcutta. In 1929, the Government of India announced an all-India competition to produce copies of the royal portraits at Windsor Castle for the Viceroy's new residence in New Delhi (Rashtrapati Bhavan). The architect Edwin Lutyens chose Bose and J. A. Lalkaka for this prize and they went to England in 1930.
Queen Mary
1912
Copy of State Portrait by William Llewellyn
Atul Bose
Oil on canvas
Image Credit: Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
King Edward VII
1905
Copy of State Portrait by Luke Fildes
Atul Bose
Oil on canvas
Image Credit: Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
King George V
Copy of State Portrait by Luke Fildes
Atul Bose’
Oil on canvas
Image Credit: Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Atul Bose
Oil on Canvas
Image Credit: Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
Lady Ranu Mookherjee
Atul Bose
Oil on canvas
Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta
Not only did he make portraits for Rashtrapati Bhavan, but he also made portraits of well-known individuals such as Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Motilal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Nandalal Bose, Chittaranjan Das, amongst many others. His works had a dark palette, line, and tone. The blend of light and tone made his canvases lifelike. Bose mostly painted in oil, and his subjects were generally portraits, landscapes, or depictions of the socio-political scenario at the time.
Of course, his most famous painting and one that created his fame was the graphite on paper portrait of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee in 1922 - this got him the Calcutta University scholarship to study at the Royal Academy, London
