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Bimal Dasgupta
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"I believe that if an artist has mastered one medium, he can work in the others as well. I paint only when I am in the mood. The colours are always there in my heart, an unseen power in the background drives me to put them down on canvas."
The Bengal School of Art influenced Dasgupta. He painted landscapes that gave full rein to his penchant for nature and its fanciful shapes and colours, with the ocean being an endless source of...
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"I believe that if an artist has mastered one medium, he can work in the others as well. I paint only when I am in the mood. The colours are always there in my heart, an unseen power in the background drives me to put them down on canvas."
The Bengal School of Art influenced Dasgupta. He painted landscapes that gave full rein to his penchant for nature and its fanciful shapes and colours, with the ocean being an endless source of fascination. Several of his paintings are surrealistic and abstract in his depiction of the teeming life underwater.
A native of Bengal, Dasgupta spent his childhood years in Behrampur. He remembers, "My parents did not want me to be an artist. It was considered a waste of time. Boys were discouraged. But I was not interested in school, and after my matriculation I begged my father for money and began painting. Since colours and canvasses were so expensive, I did other part-time jobs."
Despite these obstacles, Dasgupta completed his art education from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, and embarked on a career as a landscape artist. Primarily interested in watercolours, Dasgupta nevertheless painted in other mediums as well. He had to give up oils, when he developed an allergy to turpentine and linseed oil. Thereafter, he took up acrylic. But his preferred medium always remained watercolour.
Moving slowly, but surely, from realistic images to the completely abstract, Dasgupta used textural changes and sharp-defined colour schemes, making his landscapes come alive with shifting shapes and barely visible forms.
A world submerged in grey, black and blue, Bimalda (as he was fondly known) felt his canvases were an extension of his mind. "My choice of colours was dictated by the themes I chose to paint," he once told a close friend. The liberal use of blues and the merging of greys and blacks were the natural outcome of the submarine world he portrayed. Through these sombre hues, a ray of bright yellow flashes, illuminating the whole painting and revealing the hidden meanings embedded in his work.
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Born
1917
Died
1995
Education
1963-77 Taught at Delhi College of Art, New Delhi.
1937-43 Diploma in Painting, Government College of Art and Craft (GCAC), Kolkata
Exhibitions
Selected Posthumous Exhibitions
2011 ‘Manifestations VI',...
Selected Posthumous Exhibitions
2011 ‘Manifestations VI', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2011 ‘Manifestations V', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010 ‘Manifestations IV’, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.
2008 'Moderns', Royal Cultural Centre, Amman, Jordan organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in collaboration with Embassy of India, Amman, Jordan
2005 ‘Manifestations III’, organized by Delhi Art Gallery, Mumbai and New Delhi.
2004 ‘Manifestations II’, organized by Delhi Art Gallery, Mumbai and New Delhi.
2003 ‘Manifestations’, organized by Delhi Art Gallery, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1970,72,74,77,83 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1966 Chicago.
1961 Marshal Kowaska Gallery, Poland.
1961 Pargaman Museum, Berlin.
1957 Artistry House, Kolkata
1956 Delhi Shilpi Chakra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1955 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
Selected Group Exhibitions
1982,80 ‘Calcutta Painters’, Group Show, Kolkata
1980 Sarala Art Gallery, Chennai
Participations
1986 Festival of India, Moscow, USSR.
1985-86 Festival of India, Paris.
1979 Contemporary Indian Art, Frankfurt, West Germany. Travelling Exhibition,, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary & Bulgaria.
1972 18 Artists at Palo Alto, San Francisco.
1970 Expo 1970, MOMA, Tokyo
1965 Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil.
1958 Travel India, Art Exhibition, Moscow, Germany & Poland.
1956 National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1952 Contemporary Indian Art, Travelling Exhibition, China, Japan.
Honours and Awards
1989 Fellow, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1988 Awarded title of...
1989 Fellow, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1988 Awarded title of Kala Ratana by All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi.
1972 State Honour, Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi.
1961-62 Government Scholarship to travel around Europe.
1958 Certificate, National Exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1956 Din & Jukerman's Prize, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1956 National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1954 Gold Medal, Academy of Fine Arts (AFA), Kolkata
1954 First Prize, Hyderabad Art Exhibition, Hyderabad.
1952 First Prize, Mysore Art Exhibition, Mysore.
1951 Became an Asst. Director in charge of all artwork in the Victory magazine.
1948 First Prize, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
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CURRENTLY ON AUCTION AT StoryLTD
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Lot 39
Details
Absolute Tuesdays
4 April 2023
Untitled
Watercolour and graphite on paper
26 x 20 in
$2,440-3,660
Rs 2,00,000-3,00,000
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PAST AUCTIONS
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Lot 3
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Absolute Tuesdays
28 March 2023
Untitled
Mixed media on paper pasted on plyboard
39.75 x 25.5 in
Winning bid
$1,317
Rs 1,08,000
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 35
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Absolute Tuesdays
7 February 2023
Untitled
Watercolour and pencil on paper pasted on plywood
40 x 26 in
Winning bid
$889
Rs 72,000
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 18
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Absolute Tuesdays
9 August 2022
Untitled
Watercolour and acrylic on paper
23 x 21.25 in
Winning bid
$1,277
Rs 99,600
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 23
Details
Absolute Tuesdays
19 April 2022
Untitled
Watercolour on paper
26.75 x 21 in
Winning bid
$1,131
Rs 83,700
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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