During my
graduation I was excited to search for a perfect professional from whom I can
mature my aesthetic sense and get proper guidance to fulfil my goal. One fine
morning I went to his rented house in Kolkata; afterwards I spent long years
under his mentorship. I like to share as I saw those days. I have an appetite
then to learn more and more from a multi-talented visual artist like he is. A
very much gentlemanly, benevolent, genuine teacher.
In his youth he
was simply influenced by European modernism and the abstraction of objects;
figures are his oil colour subject. They did not have much freedom in art
college. Like other friends, he also struggles to establish himself. Once, at an
evening adda, some friends together formed an artists' group, keeping in mind to
work and exhibit throughout India regularly. All of them exchanged ideas and
shared experiences of social conditions with strong Indianans in their work.
Named 'Society of Contemporary Artists, Kolkata'.
Later, he
emphasises watercolour, and within a short time, he creates an
out-of-traditional look for his paintings. He used to do layer after layer of
soft transparent colour, which never disturbed the character of the medium. He
said, ‘All are crazy to do it for oil colour, but I thought, why not
watercolour?'. He took the challenge to bring a fresh style and cross texture – which is his salient feature of paintings – and his great contribution
to the fine art field.
In the 60s and
70s Bengal went through a severe crisis with famine, then the Bangladesh war,
then the Naxal Andolan and lastly the emergency. During that tense situation,
artists were smashed by grief and sorrows but did not lose their passion. The
rickety skeleton figures of the dark side of society evoke the subjects of
Shyamal Dutta Roy's objects of creation.
In the meantime
Shyamal DuttaRoy creates a history of his life; his figures have large heads
and thin human bodies, and the broken bowl excerpts are from famine-affected
people. That scene had a strong impact on him, as Jainule Abedin felt. These
broken bowls in watercolour and in graphics are recognised internationally and
nationally. Ruined heritage buildings and the plight of schools and teachers
are the source of his idea. We were surprised how the ruined social condition
could be an aesthetical presentation and simultaneously a message to the world.
The talk of time – document.
I repeat, the
brilliant graphic ‘Broken Bowl', the symbolic one, had brought fame for him,
and the figure style influenced artists of his time. I even heard from him
about a few famous artists who also surely enlightened the next generation.
Some critics said he was studying the method of British legend Turner’s
watercolour. But Nandalal, Ramkinkar’s line and Abanendranath's wash technique
are also in his observation.
In his peak time
of career, he had got lots of awards,
including Lalit kala, prestigious Aban award, Shiromony Purosker, All India Annual’s, Dhaka Shilpokala etc.,
and works are in the collections of so many museums and institutes, such as the
Victoria Albert Museum, NGMA, Pratt
Graphic Center etc.
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He has so much
rare talent that he uses to compose his signature style with the same kind of
textures and dimensions and the broken structures as background design in oil,
acrylic, graphics and obviously watercolour. A modern presentation where
concepts originate from real-life experience in abstract composition by
softened treatments of mediums with rhythmic criss-cross lines is his
unmatchable achievement, especially as a sensitive medium, watercolour. Once
his hand broke from falling down, afterwards he started to paint with his left
hand, and nobody can find any distortion in his work. He has such a pretty
character towards students that he never forces technique or methodology from
his end. He got the best respect from his contemporary artists throughout India
for his fresh contribution to Indian culture.
- Images from Google
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