Bimal Das Gupta (1917–1995), was an Indian abstract artist. He was educated in the Government College of Arts and Crafts at Kolkata. He later joined the faculty of the College of Art, Delhi.
A popular artist in his lifetime, Bimal Das Gupta counted former Prime Ministers such as Inder Kumar Gujral and V. P. Singh among his patrons; while Gujral inaugurated his solo show at the IIC in 1986-87, Singh, after stepping down as the Prime Minister of India in November 1990, took to painting and turned to none other than Das Gupta to learn the art.
Biography
editHe was born in West Bengal in 1917 and raised by his uncle. He enrolled at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata in 1937. During the Second World War, he worked as a clerk, but shortly returned to art, as an assistant director put in charge of the artwork at Victory magazine. He graduated from the college in 1943, and worked at an art gallery before accepting a teaching position at the College of Art, Dehli. He worked at that college for fourteen years and continued his painting, trying landscape painting, cubism, and "neo-tantrism", becoming more and more abstract. His work was considerably exhibited, both in India and in other countries. He died in 1995 in a car accident.[1][2]
Much before any other artist or artist collectives essayed modern abstractionism in the country, Bimal Das Gupta was beginning to experiment with the same in New Delhi in the 1940s. An alumnus of the Government College of Art and Craft,[3] Calcutta, Das Gupta shifted to New Delhi early on in his career, where he worked as an art director with the British war magazine called Victory. It was in New Delhi that he pioneered abstractionism in watercolour and acrylic, after an allergy to oil paints forced him to give up the medium. He was also one of the earliest Bengali artists to explore abstractionism; in those days, artists of the rather culturally rich community tended to veer towards figurative, realistic, mythological and folk subjects for their art. This never-before-seen selection throws spotlight on the evolution of the oeuvre of an artist known as much for his artistic genius as for his generosity to fellow and upcoming artists of that time many of whom are the biggest names in the art industry today.[4]
Das Gupta infused his works with an energy that speaks to the collectors to this day. His abstract renditions of the underwater world, of the cosmos and even tenets of the Tantra philosophy are imbued with raw power of the essence of the universe, whether executed in acrylics, watercolours or mixed media. A devotee of the earth colours, he did not shy from experimenting, and created unusual combinations of colours on his canvases to get some stunning results. With his pioneering experiments in abstraction, he set the tone for the next generation of Indian artists to follow and explore in their own unique ways. His USP lay in exploring a quintessentially Indian and personalised variety of abstractionism, as opposed to the then popular inspiration of European modernism.[5][6][7][8][9]
Awards
edit- 1948-First prize in water colour AIFACS
- 1952-First prize-Mysore Art Exhibition
- 1954-Gold Medal Akademi of Fine Arts, Calcutta
- 1954-First prize in Oil Hydrabad Art exhibition
- 1956-Din Jukerman,s prize, AIFACS
- 1972-Elected eminent painter of the year Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi
- 1989-Made fellow of Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi
Bimal Das Gupta had an adversity towards awards and post 1972 refused many coveted and prestigious awards.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Bimal Dasgupta - Artworks — Gallery Pioneer". www.gallerypioneer.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ "Bimal Das Gupta". artiana.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ "Government College of Art & Craft", Wikipedia, 2024-09-03, retrieved 2024-09-22
- ^ a b "Bimal Dasgupta".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Celebrating the Legacy of Bimal Das Gupta, a Visionary Who Redefined Indian Abstraction in Modern Art". Startup Reported. September 16, 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Sandeep, Sengupta (16 September 2024). "Celebrating the Legacy of Bimal Das Gupta, a Visionary Who Redefined Indian Abstraction in Modern Art". Republic-India.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Bimal Dasgupta: Bringing back the master of water colours". The Indian Express. 11 August 2014.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Shailaja, Tripathi (14 August 2014). "Lasting impressions: An exhibition showcasing the works of late Bimal Dasgupta attempts to put the master abstractionist's art and name back in circulation". The Hindu.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Poonam, Goel (23 July 2014). "Lasting Landscapes". The new Indian Express. p. 1.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Media Coverage and External Link
edit- Bimal Dasgupta: Bringing back the master of water colours; The Indian Express August 11, 2014
- Lasting impressions The Hindu; August 14, 2014
- Lasting Landscapes The New Indian Express; July 23, 2014
- Lokmattimes September 16, 2024
- The artistic journey of Bimal Dasgupta: Transitioning into pure abstraction Financial Express September 20, 2024
- Celebrating the Visionary Legacy of artist Bimal Das Gupta Good Homes Sep 20, 2024
- Celebrating the Legacy of Bimal Das Gupta, a Visionary Who Redefined Indian Abstraction in Modern Art First India 16 Sep-2024
- Celebrating the Legacy of Bimal Das Gupta Ahmedabad Mirror