The Hindu : Front Page : Exhibiting his work after over eight decades

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Monday, Mar 05, 2007
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Exhibiting his work after over eight decades

Indrani Dutta

EVERGREEN: One of Provash Banerjee's works on display.

KOLKATA: It took more than eight and half decades for painter Provash Banerjee to exhibit his work for the first time — work that has been adorning the houses and offices of the Birlas, the Singhanias, the Somanis and the Kanois.

A landscape painted by the 1919 born artist, as a youth in the mid-fifties, had also made its way to Indira Gandhi.

Now, 25,000 canvases later, the reluctant 89-year-old artist has been coaxed by his family and friends to showcase his work. Noted actor Soumitra Chatterjee and renowned painter Ganesh Pyne will be among those present for the launch of the show.

So why did it take the artist, for whom the brush has been a trusted companion since childhood, so long to come out of his closet? "I only believed in working, painting one canvas after another using varied mediums like oil, watercolour, pastels and acrylic," said the painter.

Influenced by British painters like Sir William Russel and enriched through his interactions with the likes of Abanindranath Tagore, Atul Bose and Mukul Dey, Mr. Banerjee continued his work, surviving the Bengal Partition, which stripped the former zamindar family (landlords) of their wealth, pushing it to near penury. "As the eldest of six siblings, it is only through my brush that we kept starvation at bay," he says.

The painter has undergone training at the Calcutta Art School and the Lucknow Art School, and has been commissioned by many well-known families to do their portraits.

Mr. Banerjee's paintings also adorn the walls of the Calcutta High Court.

"Painting and interacting with the nearly 500 students I have tutored over the years are my only passions - the thought of solo exhibitions seldom crossed my mind," he said to The Hindu , from his south Kolkata residence. "Some of my students like Sumita Das, Swadesh Dasgupta and Tapas Saha are doing a very good job. "

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