Today, my mind drifts back to the evocative days of the 1930s. My journey through Art School was still unfinished in those days, with lessons yet to unfold. During those days, a small circle of us artist-friends would often set out together, sketchpads in hands, to capture the world outdoors through sketching once classes were over.
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Shanu Lahiri was Nirode Majumdar's sister and reminisces here about the formation of the Calcutta group in her book ' Smritir Collage' . The quotes and translations are from the same.
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The text translates pages from an article in Anushtup, a leftist journal that documents the beginnings of the Calcutta group and their Bombay affiliations via P.C. Joshi et al.
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I pen here a few words about the remarkable artist Rathin Maitra. I knew Rathin Maitra by reputation as one of the luminaries of the Calcutta (present Kolkata) art scene. But I met Rathin Maitra for the first time in the 1950s at the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta.
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As we prepare for the exhibitions of Gobardhan Ash and Rathin Maitra, we have realised that the context and continuum of the modernist movement around the 1940s are somehow forgotten. We strive to bring them to light with the hope of more research and discussions. (Refer here) This write-up focuses on Calcutta and Bombay.
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At Prinseps, we are working to change the discourse to redefine the critical period for modernism in India as the first half of the 20th century. Though academia reiterates the same, the art trade seems to have strayed with a focus on the later part of the 20th century. The early 20th century witnessed the uprising of major art movements questioning the status quo.
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Rathin Maitra and Subho Tagore established the Calcutta Group, along with other founder members, which gained widespread recognition in India for its influential contribution to modern Indian painting much before the Progressives.
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Sometime in the middle of December, 1949, I met Prodosh Dasgupta, Prankrishna Pal, and Rathin Maitra at the Calcutta Photo Society at 157B, Dharamtolla Street. Prodosh happened to be a previous acquaintance. The other two gentlemen, however, I met for the first time. “Why, we’ve been looking for you. There’s something we would like to discuss,” they said.
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A silent, dedicated artist content amidst the walls of paintings stacked in his Begampur mud house stirred a quiet revolution against the preconceived notions of artistic expression. No wonder Gobardhan Ash (b.1907) carved a niche for himself as an individualistic artist who fearlessly explored diverse artistic styles and techniques.
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