The Hindu : New Delhi News : Printed memories of rural Bengal

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Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008
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Printed memories of rural Bengal

‘Palash’: Colour linocut on paper made by Haren Das in 1970.

A month-long retrospective of prints by veteran artist Haren Das spanning over four decades opens at Delhi Art Gallery in the Capital’s Hauz Khas Village this Thursday.

Titled “Haren Das --The End of Toil” (Prints, 1945-1990), the exhibition pays a befitting tribute to the artist and his vast contribution to the medium of printmaking -- woodcuts and wood engravings -- and then to the rich rural themes in his works.

Described as one of the finest graphic artists the country has produced, Haren Das was born in 1921 in Dinajpur, a small town in undivided Bengal. Little wonder his works are a nostalgic reflection of his childhood days spent at Dinajpur. His works talk of cobbled streets, buffaloes, the village well, women with pots on their heads.

Remembered as a simple man at heart, Das preferred being a dedicated teacher to younger generations of artists. With basic and handy tools, he explored the densely engraved or sparsely composed image. The variations in the equation of black and white areas captured for him the intensity of outdoor light and transience of the moment, creating poetry out of shadows, silhouettes, seasons and time. The mission of his art was simple: to recreate what touched him the most in his experience.

Das had once said: “I was fascinated by the imagery of women, not as sensual models but as efficient contributors to the self-sustaining rural economy. They not only look after the domestic front but co-partner with men to help them in activities such as fishing, farming, harvesting and taking care of the animals.”

From the mid-1950s, his graphics art showed increasing skill and confidence. Most of his works, especially his woodcuts and engravings, captured the rural Bengal.

The bulk of Das’s substantial body of prints comprised woodcuts, wood engravings and etchings as it was his favourite medium. Occasionally he would switch over from one medium to another. By the time Das passed away in 1993, he had laid the foundation for print-making and graphic art education in the country by introducing line engraving and etching into the art curriculum of the Government College of Arts and Crafts.

Besides releasing a voluminous book on the artist authored by Paula Sengupta at its premises in Delhi on Wednesday, the Delhi Art Gallery will also organise a lecturer titled “The history of relief printing in India and contribution of Haren Das” by Sengupta at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Friday.

Madhur Tankha

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