Ramendranath Chakraborty

BORN
1902 in Tripura

DIED
1955

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS
1919 Government School of Art
1921 Kala Bhavan Santiniketan

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1902 to a somewhat conservative and cultured family in Tripura, Ramendranath began his formal art education when he joined the Government Art College in 1919, abandoning his conventional studies midway. Within two years he left Calcutta and came to Santiniketan to join the newly founded Kala Bhavana in 1921. It was there that he found a rather fresh and conducive environment along with a group of talented contemporaries like Dhirendra Krishna Deb Burman, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Ardhendu Prasad Banerjee, Manindra Bhushan Gupta and others. Ramendranath had already received training from Asit Kumar Halder in Calcutta and was now mentored by Nandalal Bose, one of the greatest artist-teachers ever. Needless to say, Rabindranath Tagore was still putting his all into making Kala Bhavana a place of extraordinary activity during that time.

Ramendranath came to Santiniketan with an insatiable desire to learn about art, to know various media, and to hone his artistic skills. His inclination to explore new ideas and venture into uncharted lands found an uninhibited compass in such a liberated atmosphere. Along with knowledge of traditional arts and crafts, the teaching program at Kala Bhavana places special emphasis on the study of nature, stating that nature and the objective environment are vital and highly rewarding sources of our visual knowledge. Nandalal Bose motivated his students towards this practice. Ramendranath was also deeply moved by this when he saw how much it meant to Nandalal himself. Ramendranath later writes: During summer evenings I have often seen Nandababu, amidst the dusty wind, drawn by an irresistible attraction, walking through the vast expanses of khoai (parched earth), seeking the sources of his imagination. I have noticed him, every day on his way back home, observing everything around him. The colors of the butterflies, the flowers in the grass, and the huge Am Loki tree He is observing nature intensely.

This whole question of observation implied that art should respond to the everyday realities of contemporary life and its surroundings. Ramendranath's growing interest in life and the environment forced him to take note of minute details of tangible reality, which gave rise to a fresh search for suitable visual forms capable of depicting things accordingly. Thus, in his innumerable prints, local visual facts and subjects like Goalpara, a nearby village, the Kopai river, pastoral views of people tilling the land, women in the fields, a group of ducks pedaling in a pond, even a seemingly prosaic subject like variegated shadows under trees, all became subjects worthy of being drawn by Ramendranath. The mundane fact becomes a great visual delight. Ramendranath later recalled, "I kept wandering around the fields, the villages, from morning till night numerous sketches were accumulating. I could feel that there were so many themes accumulated in nature wherever I looked, I saw a picture, and I felt that I could make a composition out of any segment of it."

This contact between Kala Bhavana and the outside world was a decisive factor for students like Ramendranath, particularly when the French artist Madame Andre Karpeles visited Santiniketan during 1921-22 primarily to demonstrate and teach the art of woodblock printing. Madame Karpeles was an expert in this technique and before long the art of woodblock printing was introduced at Kala Bhavana for the first time. During his six-month stay, Ramendranath learned the method as best he could and soon produced some excellent works in this medium. Around 1923, the Mexican painter Fryman, who was visiting Santiniketan, demonstrated the multicolor woodblock printing process he had learned from Japanese printmakers in Paris. Almost immediately, Ramendranath began experimenting with this new medium, and in 1925 he wrote a letter to Madame Andre Karpeles in Paris asking for advice on how to color the woodblock and where to get the necessary materials.

Kala Bhavana was abuzz with the new enthusiasm for printmaking when Gaganendranath Tagore donated his lithographic press to Kala Bhavana and Surendranath Kar was sent to London to learn the methods of lithography and engraving. Around the same time, in 1925, Nandalal Bose traveled to China and Japan and brought back with him some original prints belonging to the Far Eastern tradition. In this context, it was natural for Ramendranath to become fully involved with these historic developments and take the main credit for launching printmaking as a viable fine art in India.

Apart from being an accomplished graphic artist, Ramendranath Chakravorty was also an influential teacher who inspired a whole generation of students to explore uncharted avenues. After brief stints at the Andhra National Art Gallery (Kalashala) in Musolipatnam and Kala Bhavana, Ramendranath joined the Government College of Arts, Calcutta as a Senior Assistant Professor in 1929, during the tenure of Mukul Dey. From 1943 to 1946 he was the officiating Principal there and more importantly, he introduced the Department of Graphics in the School in 1943. Apart from having other official responsibilities, Ramendranath became the Principal of the Government College of Arts, Calcutta in September 1949. During this time he created a milestone in his administrative career with the conversion of the School into a College in September 1951. It was christened as the Government College of Arts and Crafts.

In 1937, Ramendranath traveled to London to pursue higher studies in painting at the Slade School of Art, London, where he studied under Sir Muirhead Bone and Eric Gill. Interestingly, while studying at Kala Bhavana, he had already seen some original etchings and drypoints by Sir Muirhead Bone. The following year he held a solo exhibition in London which brought him great acclaim. From then on (until his untimely death in 1955), he exhibited his works widely throughout the world. He also organized exhibitions of Indian artists both in India and abroad.

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