Haren Das

Born in 1921 in Dinajpur, a small town in undivided Bengal, now Bangladesh, Haren Das graduated in Fine Arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Calcutta. He specialized in graphic arts, as well as studying mural painting. 

Immediately after graduating in 1938, he joined his alma mater as a teacher. He also enrolled in a two-year teacher training course, where he opted to study graphic arts, woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings. Das is considered one of the finest graphic artists India has ever produced, especially in woodcuts. 

Das introduced line engraving and etching into the art curriculum at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, thus laying the foundation for the teaching of printmaking and graphic arts in India. He once told an art writer that just as a poet or a musician expresses his emotions and his interpretations of life through words and sounds, an artist visualizes the phenomenal world around him in the receptacle of his mind and expresses it in color and form. But an artist obsessed with woodcuts sees life from a special point of view and must work with light and shadow, composing them into a picture and adapting his medium to the presentation. 

His works, especially the woodcuts and etchings, captured rural and pastoral Bengal. Despite using restraint and economy, Das has managed to offer a glimpse of a Bengal that no longer exists. Most of his work is a nostalgic reflection of a childhood and youth spent in Dinajpur. In his works, the artist depicts man as a part of nature, living in harmony with the elements around him. His works speak of cobbled streets, buffalos, the village well, and women with pots on their heads. 

A winner of several national awards, Das held several solo and group exhibitions across India. His works are in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, the Calcutta Art Gallery, and many other state galleries. In 1950, he published a book of prints titled Bengal Village in Wood. 

Haren Das died in Calcutta in 1968.

BORN

February 1, 1921, Dinajpur District, Bangladesh

DIED

January 31, 1993, Calcutta

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1951-81 Lecturer in the Department of Graphics, Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta

1947 Taught Engraving, Government School of Art, Calcutta

1946 Two years' teaching, with Ramendranath Chakravarti, Government School of Art, Calcutta

1943 Art Teacher, Zilla School, Coomilla, East Bengal Bangladesh

1938-44 Diploma, Government School of Art, Calcutta

SELECTED POSTHUMOUS EXHIBITIONS

2010 Manifestations IV, Delhi Art Gallery, 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

1999 Retrospective, Right Lines Art Gallery, Bangalore

1998 Retrospective, Alternative Art Gallery, Calcutta

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008 Solo exhibition, The End of Toil. Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

1983 Retrospective, Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi

1979 Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta

1964 Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharti University, Santiniketan

PARTICIPATIONS

1960 20th All India Annual Art Exhibition, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi

1959 3rd International Graphic Art Exhibition, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

1958 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi, Bulgaria

1956 Silver Jubilee Art Exhibition, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi

1952 Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar

1951 58th and 10th All India Art Exhibition, Shilpa Kala Parishad, Patna

1951 20th All India Annual Art Exhibition, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi

1950 Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta

1941 All India Industrial Art Exhibition, Calcutta

HONORS AND AWARD

1989 Awarded the Abanindra Puraskar, Rabindra Bharti University, Calcutta

1986-87 Akademi Award, West Bengal State Academy of Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts, Calcutta

1970 Smithsonian Printmaking Workshop, New Delhi

1958 Gold Medal, Society of Painters, Chennai

1955, 56, 57, 61, 68 Gold Medal, Mysore Dasara Exhibition, Mysore

1953 Silver Medal, Mysore Dasara Exhibition, Mysore

1952 Works of Art Included in Encyclopedia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria

1950, 51, 58, 62, 63 Gold Medal, Shilpa Kala Parishad, Patna

1950 Published a Book of Prints entitled Bengal Village in Wood

1949, 50, 54 Gold Medal, Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta

1949, 55 Gold Medal, Hyderabad Art Society, Hyderabad

1941 Certificate of Merit, All India Art Exhibition in Industry, Calcutta

haren das paintings, haren das painting