The founders and organisers of the artist organisation, Young Artists’ Union (1931) were - Abani Sen, Gobardhan Ash, Ananda Dey and Digin Bhattacharya. Those who were later invited to submit their artwork for the exhibition and became members by submitting their paintings include Kalikinkar Ghosh Dastidar, Suren Dey, Sachin Das, Pankaj Basu and others.
The inauguration of the first exhibition of this artist organisation was held at the Town Hall, where Rabindra Jayanti Fair was organised to celebrate the 77th birth anniversary of the Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore (25th December, 1931). The origins of this organisation are steeped in a rich history. Here is a brief overview of it -
During the last student strike of the Government Arts School in 1930, Renu Ray, switched sides and joined with the faction of the principal of the Arts School, Mukul Dey and with the aim of sabotaging the student strike, he vandalised some plaster models at the school. Later at a meeting with the then D.P.I (Stapleton) and the governing body, he asserted that these models had been splintered by the strikers. As an outcome of this, the students whose names were recorded as offenders, were expelled. Hence, the strike became fervent at that time and coincidentally Renu Ray’s wrongdoings were exposed. At that time, Renu Ray became unrestrained, and in the meantime, one day, without his parents’ knowledge, he came to the school with his new motorbike and confessed his mistake to all the students, asking for their forgiveness. Being extremely restless, he unexpectedly snatched the students’ tiffin boxes and ate their food.
It was decided that he would travel to England within six (6) months (of course, with his father’s money). Tormented by remorse due to this unfortunate incident, Renu lost all his senses and became frantic. In the afternoon, he left the school hurriedly on his motorbike, claiming that he was going to meet the then Education Minister. The next day at the school, we students learned the news that, Renu Ray while riding his motorbike at nearly 70 miles per hour from Bhawanipur, was severely injured in a sudden accident involving a collision with a lorry at the Upper - Circular Road - Fariapukur intersection and had been admitted to the Medical College. It was also heard that the handle of the motorbike pierced his abdomen, and he immediately pulled it out and tried to write the number of that lorry in his notebook before falling unconscious. There was a lot of bleeding. The locals took him to the Medical College Hospital’s Emergency Ward. He was admitted immediately. When this sad news reached his home, his family immediately rushed to the hospital and stayed there all night. After a short while. They learned from the surgeon that his kidney had burst. Nothing could be said about the patient’s condition. He had been put on gas. A Medical Board has convened for this major complicated operation. Chances of survival were very low. After regaining a bit of consciousness, Renu told the surgeons, “ Don’t be afraid, Doctor. Go on with the operation.” The doctor said that it was a record in the Medical Journal. He passed away that very night.
He was kept in the morgue for the postmortem. We, the student group along with Renu’s brother, submitted a petition and tried hard to get the dead body and finally got it. In the morgue, it looked as if he was simply asleep in a perfectly healthy body. His brother brought a nightdress, pyjamas and other garments which were dressed on him. We students, along with Renu’s brother, then took the dead body to the Arts School lawn for a condolence meeting. At that moment, Principal Mukul Dey yelled from the upper storey, saying, “A condolence meeting cannot be held here.” As we pressed on with organising the condolence meeting, he commanded from the upper storey, “Whip, whip” to remove us from the school lawn. Feeling disheartened, we, along with Renu’s brother, set out on a mourning procession towards the Nimtala Cremation Ground to perform the last rites. Upon reaching the cremation ground we called Dom (cremation worker), arranged the pyre, and placed the body on it. Renu’s brother performed the final rites, and the pyre was ignited. As the body was nearly reduced to ashes, we, the assembled students, collectively pledged in front of the pyre to establish a space for learning painting and practice in the memory of Renu Ray. We vowed to continue our artistic endeavours regularly as a tribute.
After a lot of effort, within a few days we managed to rent a house at Ultadanga, where the four of us - Abani Sen, Gobardhan Ash, Annada Dey, Digin Bhattyacharya - arranged to stay. And the artists arrived from their respective homes to join there. Due to the space constraints, 7 or 8 people would stay indoors and 7 or 8 people would study outdoors, according to the programme schedule. With this setup, the artwork began to be carried out. In the indoor study session, works on Life Study, Still Life and Composition were carried out with models as per the routine. In the outdoor session, Sketching, Animal Drawing, Figures, Landscape were done and occasionally drawings were done at the zoo. After approximately six(6) months of working on painting in this manner, we had to vacate the house due to financial constraints. At that point, everyone continued to paint in whatever way they were able to. However, at times, we would gather outdoors in open fields to paint together and discussions on this would also take place there.
We were trying to figure out what to do in this chaotic situation, unable to find any way out. During that time, our respected teacher ( Atul Bose) had made his second journey to England and, after finishing his work there, returned to Kolkata in November 1931. One day, a group of about 30-32 young artists went to his house on Bondel Road, met with him, and expressed our appeal, asking him to provide us with a course of action in the current situation. He then encouraged us by suggesting that the young artists should organise a collective art exhibition, and with everyone’s consent the plan was decided upon right then and there. Our respected teacher ( Atul Bose) named the artist association “Young Artists’ Union” and decided that, in the upcoming Rabindra Jayanti, the celebration of Rabindranath Tagore’s 77th birth anniversary at the Town Hall in December, we should rent a stall to hold the art exhibition and encouraged us to pursue the idea. During the discussion, none of the students present said anything at all. When they came outside to the street, all the students except - Abani Sen, Gobardhan Ash, Annada Dey and Digin Bhattyacharya - four of us, burst into loud protests by saying - Exhibition? Is this actually happening? Impossible. This is a mad projection. Then everyone went back to their respective homes. But how will the four of us inform our teacher about this? Overwhelmed with shame, disgust and humiliation, we then made a firm decision - even if no one joins this effort, the four of us will still create and exhibit the paintings. No one will be able to stop us.
That evening, the four of us headed to the Town Hall together without any hesitation. After inquiring, I found out that the person in charge of renting out the stalls was Jnana Da ( Jnananjan Niyogi), I approached him and informed him - you need to arrange a stall for us to hold an art exhibition for our young artists. The rent for each stall was 60 rupees. We requested Jnana Da to give us a concession. He willingly agreed to charge us only 30 rupees for that stall and booked it under the name we had given, “Young Artists’ Union” assigning us a stall number. We collected the money in a short time, made the payment, received the receipt and noted down the date and the details of the inauguration.
After completing the work at the Town Hall, we went straight back to Bowbazar and submitted the details about the Young Artists’ Union’s exhibition venue and inauguration date to the news editor of the daily Basumati for publication, using the name of Abani Sen for promotional purposes. On the following morning, the news of the exhibition was disseminated to the public through the newspaper. The artists who had rejected the exhibition were surprised when they read the news in the newspaper. Those artists realised that the four of us couldn’t be stopped. But we encountered a problem. In the heat of the moment, all the responsibilities for organising the exhibition were entrusted to the four of us - Who will provide the funds for the expenses related to this? Everyone remained silent. Finally, I stated that I would take on the responsibility of providing the money. And with immense courage and determination, I went to my mother, brother, sister, relatives and friends and told them, “We are organising an exhibition. Contribute whatever amount you can.” The exhibition was conducted by collecting funds in this manner. Then it was decided that the four of us would stay close together. Annada Dey and I used to live in a house in Bowbazar. Abani Sen on R.G.Kar Road and Digin Bhattyacharya used to live near Baithakkhana. Leading a movement from afar is extremely challenging. Therefore, arrangements were made for us to live together in the house of Bowbazar.
The programme for certain artwork and hosting exhibitions, included the following activities, - after taking a bath and having breakfast in the morning, spend the entire day outdoors - in the fields, open grounds, the zoo or on the streets with paints, brushes, paper, boards, ink, pens, pencils and all the necessary art materials- to draw pictures and in the evening, after returning home and having a light meal, we left one person to handle the cooking while the remaining three of us went to visit the homes of the artists who had left the artist organisation before it was formed. They were taken aback upon seeing us and confessed in amazement that they had made an error. We informed them - “You don’t need to do anything. Just provide one or two pictures and a one rupee as a donation and that will be enough. Without any hassle, they gladly began to provide both pictures and money. Until the exhibition took place, everyday we completed painting work during the daytime and then visited the homes of these artists who had left the artists organisation previously, as well as the homes of other artists at night to collect paintings for exhibition.
After the student strike and the subsequent eviction of the dormitory of the Arts School on the then Corporation Street, many of the artists from the dormitory relocated to a boarding house at 30 Wellington Street. At that exhibition many paintings of Purna Chakravorty, Phani Gupta, Pratul Banerjee and other artists were collected. The exhibition was made possible only after the artworks were collected by visiting the artists’ houses. The exhibition was successful. The Maharaja of Nepal and the Maharaja of Tripura attended the exhibition and even purchased some paintings. Some of the paintings were sold in that exhibition, included works by Purna Chakravorty, myself and a few others. After visiting this exhibition, the former principal of the Government Arts School, Mr. Percy Brown commented, - “Your exhibition is far better than the Govt. Art School exhibition.” World renowned Chinese artist Mr. Cow visited this exhibition. He didn’t know English, so he wrote his comments in Chinese in our Visit-Book. His interpreter translated it into English as - “Friendship between India and China.” At the end of the exhibition, the money earned from the sale of the paintings was distributed to the prominent artists, including Purna Chakravorty and others whose paintings had been sold.
A pencil sketch drawn by Renu Ray was displayed at the exhibition. During the exhibition, one evening after dusk, a lady stood motionless for a long time, gazing intently at Renu’s painting without blinking. I began to suspect - could she be Renu’s mother? When I saw Renu’s brother standing next to her, I asked and found out that she is Renu’s mother. At that moment, when a few of us at that exhibition addressed her as ‘Mother’, she became unconscious. Immediately, we carried her to a nearby empty stall and provided her with water and fresh air. Gradually, she regained her senses and in response to our addressing her as ‘Mother’, she told us, “The one who was meant to leave,has left. You all are like my own children. I’m inviting you all to visit our home in Dumdum. Once the exhibition is finished, do come by one day.” Renu’s father’s name is Surendranath Ray. He was a zamindar in Dumdum. At a convenient time, we visited his house one day. Both Renu’s mother and father broke down in tears and shared many stories about Renu with us. They showered us with immense affection, care and hospitality. Renu’s father Mr. Surendranath Ray told us, “You all are like sons to me. I have a lot of fallow land suitable for farming and residence in Dumdum. All of you should settle here with some land, cultivate the land and grow crops, and keep cows for milk. I will be able to provide whatever help is needed for this task.” But we were unable to fully utilise his noble sacrifice and generosity. Being accustomed to a ready-made lifestyle, we were unable to implement such plans effectively.
In the swirling cycle of time, where is everyone today?
Reference : Anustup, Winter Issue, 19/2, 1391, Pages 114-118
