Creating art from the elements of nature often has historical significance for artists across fraternities. For instance, visual artists have commonly used wood to express their creativity since time immemorial. In fact, in India wood attracted massive admiration from the British, who chose Indian wood to create art, crafts and their furniture. Reviving an ancient art form by carving patterns on wood is the upcoming art exhibition at Gallery Veda starting from April 1.
Titled Woodcut Prints, the show brings 30 artworks by Kolkata-based eminent artist Jogen Chowdhury, who is credited with making the art form popular across the world. He has been pursuing different art forms like painting, sculpture, etching and lithography among others for over five decades. Showcasing the art of Kalighat Pattachitra at the upcoming show in the city, Jogen’s artwork reflects the diversity of Indian culture through different faces — a king, women of manycultures and an abstract rendition of a couple.
“This collection of his woodcut paintings has been painstakingly amassed over the last four years in the hope that it will further enrich the long history of Indian woodcut,” says Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, the curator of the show, explaining that the art form is widely popular among European artists who use this medium to execute extraordinary paintings.
Known as the oldest graphic technique in the history of art, woodcut has been used extensively for illustrations of books from ancient times. A huge influence of this medium was seen during the second half of the 19th century in Bengal, where studios of graphic artists were found in the Chitpur area of Kolkata. However, Jyotirmoy tells us that with technological advancements, the use of such woodcut prints has reduced but continues to remain an art form. “When Indian artists were introduced to woodcut art, they used it to reinvent themselves.”
On till May 2. 11 am to 7 pm.
priyanka.chandani@newindianexpress.com