Famous Indian artist Jogen Chowdhury passes away at 87 on October 25 at 10.15 am at a private hospital in Kolkata. The artist was battling cancer for a while and had to be admitted to the hospital around Durga Puja after developing infection. As of yesterday he was put on life support and the devastating news of his death arrived this morning. He is survived by his wife.
Chowdhury was born in 1939 in Daharpara village in Faridpur, Bangladesh. He was the son of Pramatha Nath Chowdhury, a Brahmin Zamindar and grew up being influenced in art. His father was interested in Hindu mythology, having painted scenes from village theatres and even sculpting deities, while his mother was an alpona expert.
Artists, art curators and historians remember Jogen Chowdhury
Art historian R Siva Kumar has written about Chowdhury's works, "The pulse and rhythm of Jogen Chowdhury's art comes from a filial affinity to nature and milieu. In Chowdhury's more recent works the sensory experiences of cloth, bolsters, sofas and the human body are cross-projected to produce an uncanny world of transubstantiated tumescence and flaccidness."
Jogen studied at the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata from 1955 to 1960. After graduating, he took up a job as an art teacher in Howrah Zilla School. After working there for two years he was appointed as Designer in the Handloom board, Calcutta. In 1965 he left his job and went to Paris to study in Ecole des Beaux Arts, in William Hayter's Atelier 17. He also spent around five months in London after his studies.
He returned to India in 1968 and was appointed as a textile Designer in the Handloom Board in Chennai. In 1970 he joined the Calcutta Painters Group. In 1972 he quit his job and joined the Art Gallery of Rashtrapati Bhavan as curator. Thereafter, he founded Gallery 26 and the Artists’ Forum in New Delhi in 1975. In 1986 he represented India in the ‘ Festival of Art’ in Badhdadwi. A year later he returned to Santiniketan as Professor of painting.
During his career his paintings won several awards including many from Bangladesh, Cuba and France, apart from India. His most famous mediums were ink, water colour and pastels, although he painted in oil as well. Chowdhury was fascinated by history and a victim of Partition, his works reflected dislocation and a sense of isolation. For example, when he painted a couple, the two individuals were detached and distant from each other.
A career in politics
Jogen Chowdhury also had a brush with politics when he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as MP between 2014 and 2020. He had an attendance of 56% which was deemed less than the national average of 80%.