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Conclusion

Jogen Chowdhury was a prominent Indian artist who lived through turbulent times in India's history from partition to the present. He had a natural talent for drawing that was cultivated during his studies at the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta. There, he was influenced by the Bengal school of art and realized art required expressing the inner rhythm or pulse of life. His early works were small, detailed black and white drawings that suited his temperament. After studying in Paris, he realized Indian art needed to chart its own course without looking to the West for inspiration. He rejected following the path of 'progressive' artists in India and sought his own identity and roots.

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67 views

Conclusion

Jogen Chowdhury was a prominent Indian artist who lived through turbulent times in India's history from partition to the present. He had a natural talent for drawing that was cultivated during his studies at the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta. There, he was influenced by the Bengal school of art and realized art required expressing the inner rhythm or pulse of life. His early works were small, detailed black and white drawings that suited his temperament. After studying in Paris, he realized Indian art needed to chart its own course without looking to the West for inspiration. He rejected following the path of 'progressive' artists in India and sought his own identity and roots.

Uploaded by

Gillu A
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Though Chowdhury's paintings

reverberate with emotions Universally felt, he does not seek to be a global voice raised
against injustice. He is grounded in his regional Bengal identify and comfortable with his own
artistic manner. Throughout his career Chowdhury has scrutinized, even satirzed, his local
environment. He has lived through the most turbulent years of India's history, from the
partition to today, and has survived to be one of the dominant artists of his generation.
Jogen's got admission in Government College of art and craft, Calcutta which gave a new
direction to his life. The art college already had a rich tradition behind it, under the influence
of E. B. Havell, that Abanindranath Tagore had started the famous Bengal school movement.
The romanticism associated with the Bengal School still pervaded the college atmosphere.
The paintings of great masters like Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose and Jamini Roy
were prominently displayed. While doing sketches at the Indian Museum, Jogen realised that
for a work of art to be successful, it was not just a matter of acquired skill. Through his art,
the artist had to express the inner rhythm or the pulse of life. Jogen's line drawing exercise
as a student showed his talent. His powerful charcoal drawing of refugees at the Sealdah
station expressed not only his confidence and skill, but also his ability to portray the
psychology of the subject portrayed. His early works were primarily small black and white
drawings done with great details. He chosen this particular medium because it suited his
temperament and was economical at the same time. Pen, ink and news paper were certainly
cheaper than oil on canvas. The black background and the cross hatching associated with
Jogen's style had Its origin during the 1960's

In drawings by jogen Chowdhury the line remains integral to be valued for its own sake, for
its economy of line, Conjuring up the entire shaped by its contours, of the volume of the
Apple or the fish or the eggplants. These organic shapes are interlinked in a most curious
and endearing fashion , as though energy flows from one to the next.
In his portrait, the skillful use of a few strokes introduce a whole personality. The rear view
of a politician seated and scratching his back or his head, is a posture as incisive and telling
as would be the formal pose that is the conventional portrait. His stay in Paris as a student at
the Ecole Nationale superieure des Beaux Arts in 1968, he finally gave clarity to his
thoughts. For the first time he came Face to Face with the Modern Art Movement which had
revolutionised the entire western concept on art. Just as Amrita sher-Gil had earlier
discovered her 'Indianness' in Europe, Jogen alway explore his style and he realised that if
Indian art has to creat new dynamic vocabulary, Indian artists had to chart out their own
course of action without looking to the West for inspiration. Soon after his return to India from
Paris in 1968, Jogen began a series of paintings which are entitled "Reminiscence of
Dream". Most of these are worked in ink and mixed media on paper, allowing for a
pronounced fluidity of form.

Jogen rejected the path chosen by the 'progressive' artists in India. He wanted to have a
separate identity, search for his own roots.

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