Archana Khare-Ghose Pays Well-Curated Tribute To Legendary Artist Bimal Das Gupta Through Coffee Table Book

Bimal Das Gupta, undoubtedly was an artist of repute from the 20th century. His works, largely watercolours, were predominantly abstract in an era when most used watercolours for real life or landscapes. As Vikram Mayor, Director Silver Scapes Art Ga, Delhi, mentions in the book – ‘This was the time when the Progressive Artists’ Group had not yet expanded its horizon to Europe, which in the decades to follow would give them their language of abstraction. Yet, Das Gupta had already begun making mature abstract works.' (sic)

Uday Jain, Director, Dhoolimal Gallery, Delhi, says, ‘The artist’s greatest strength to me was his colouration, especially in the use of watercolours. It’s a difficult medium to handle but the way Bimal Da’s colours blend and mix with one another, whether done in an array of colours or monochrome, is just spell binding.’ (sic)

The book – Bimal Das Gupta, An Ode to A Legend – is broadly segregated in three parts. First is The Man, The Process. Second is Remembering Bimal Da. And the third is Down Memory Lane. Talking about the man and his process are legendary figures like Ashok Vajpeyi along with Vikram Mayor, Amitava, Prayag Shukla, and Ina Puri. Artist Paresh Maity remembers Bimal Das Gupta in the second segment as – ‘History Will Talk of Bimal Da’s Greatness’, while Sanjay Bhattacharya calls him – ‘A Difficult Painter to Emulate’.

Archana has interspersed the three segments with mini sections like The Alchemist, The Impresario, The Angel’s Call where different eras of his work are spoken about along with some examples of his work. For example, The Alchemist talks about works of Bimal Das Gupta from 1960 to 1979. This was the time when Das Gupta decided to explore mediums other than oil, which he used in his earlier life. It was in this period that he found his expression in water colours which he chose later as his favourite. Vikram Mayor writes this piece with reverence. ‘This period saw the maestro come out with some revolutionizing and way -ahead – of – their – time artworks that are a gift to Indian art. Watercolours, gouaches, inks, and dyes started becoming a part of his works along with a sparing use of acrylic as the paint was not easily available in India.’ (sic)

In her curator’s note – Resurrecting Bimal Das Gupta – Archana Khare-Ghose, admits being overwhelmed by the finesse of Das Gupta’s work when she discovered it first. She calls him ‘a watercolourist par excellence’ (sic). She takes the reader on the journey of Bimal Das Gupta from his birth to his tragic death in an accident. She bit by bit unravels his artistic journey with the help of examples and anecdotes. It is in Archana’s piece that the reader discovers his allergy to oil paints and his fascination for Tantra and Cubism in the early days along with realistic landscapes.

Dr. Sudipto Pakrasi, in his memoir, talks about Das Gupta as an ideal patient and neighbour. In one of the anecdotes Dr. Pakrasi shares how critical Das Gupta was of his own work. He has written about a time when due to cataract, the painter had used bolder colours than he usually used in his paintings. After the surgery, when Das Gupta looked at his own paintings, he said, ‘ye kya bakwaas hai? Ye mera painting nahin hai!’ and destroyed most of those works.

The book has prints of many of Bimal Das Gupta’s works that show how his work progressed and how he searched for his own soul in his works.

Archana Khare-Ghose has really worked hard to create this book and it shows.

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