Isha Mohammed

Professor Isha Mohammad (1933 - 11 May 2021) was a prominent Indian Bengali painter and artist. This painter of international fame was the former principal of the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta and the president of the Asiatic Society. Apart from this, this progressive and democratic spirited man was also associated with the West Bengal Democratic Writers Shilpi Sangh.

Isha Muhammad was born in 1933 AD in Konnagar, Hooghly district of British India, now West Bengal. In line of descent they lived in Konnagar and his father had a small property. There is even a road here named after his great-grandfather. Isha was the eldest child of liberal parents.

His father worked as a designer at India's first start-up bata company in Konnagar, although he had not yet completed his art school studies. His father died when he was in sixth standard at Konnagar High School. So Isha passed the school finals in 1952 after wasting two years amidst poverty and adverse conditions including the riots of that time.

He loved to draw since childhood. Flowers, fruits, birds, seen on the road, military police painted. He wanted to study art by enrolling in an art school. But on the wish of his mother, he was admitted to Uttarpara College in the science department. He passed ISC in 1953. At this time, Isha was inspired by seeing pictures of the exhibition of local artists like JP Gangopadhyay, Rathin Maitra, Sudhir Khastagir, Kishori Roy, Biren Dey etc. in Konnagar. On the pretext of going to college, he sat on the Ganges ghats and sketched and left his artworks at the home of a distant uncle, Mohiuddin.

There was movement of influential personalities. Bidhanchandra Roy's friend Dr. Kalikinkar Sengupta sees Isha's artwork at his uncle's house. Based on that, Isha got admission in Fine Arts in Western Painting at the Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata. In 1958, he was first in the first class and got his diploma. Here he gained closeness and companionship of famous artists like Chintamani Kar, Gopal Ghosh etc. While studying at the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, he went to Dusseldorf in 1968 on a traveling scholarship from the German government. Trained in graphic art from the academy there.

After receiving his diploma in 1958, Devkumar Roychowdhury went on leave at the Government College of Art and Craft at the request of Isha Mohammad Chintamani Kar, and worked in his place for six months. After that, he worked for a few days under Ranen Ayan Dutt in the multinational advertising agency J. Walter Thomson and later in the Government Publicity Department for a few days and finally joined the Government College of Art and Craft as a 'Lecturer in Drawing and Painting' in 1962 AD. He became an assistant professor here after six years. Finally served as Officer In-Charge for about fourteen years, becoming Principal a year before retiring in 1994 AD.

Prof. Isha Mohammad was more fond of oil painting. Sketched directly in oil or water color. He also painted several portraits. However, after seeing artworks in Germany and training in graphic art, Isha gradually moved from realism to expressionism and then to social reality.

Renowned painter Isha Mohammad was infected with Corona virus. After recovery, he passed away in Kolkata on May 11, 2021 due to a short period of physical illness.

BORN

1933 in Konnagar, Hooghly

DIED

11 May 2021 Kolkata

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1958 Diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Govt. College of Art & Craft, Kolkata

1968 Training in Graphic Art, Dusseldorf Academy, West Germany

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1960 Darjeeling

1964 Indo American Society, Kolkata

1967, 1969 AIFACS, New Delhi

1968 West Germany House Exhibition

1969 Alliance Francaise, Kolkata

1987 Bedford Hill Gallery, Bedford London

1990 Genesis Art Gallery, Kolkata

1992 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

1994 Jehangir Art Galllery, Mumbai

1994 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

1997 Taj Gallery, Tajmahal Hotel, Mumbai

PARTICIPATIONS

1955, 1958, 1959, 1961 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata

1967, 1969, 1970, 1987 National Exhibition of Art, New Delhi

1971 to 2006 every year Birla Academy of Art & Culture