Jogen Chowdhury was born this day, 86 years ago, in Daharpara in Faridpur (now Bangladesh). One of independent India’s most acclaimed artists, his life and art has been moulded by his experience of Partition. Forced to migrate to Calcutta in 1947 with his family when he was only 8 years old, his formative years were imbued with the pain and struggle of reduced circumstances (his father was a landowner in East Bengal) and the descent into poverty and destitution as refugees.
The most lasting impact of this direct experience of the trauma of Partition on his art would be the power and haunting legacy of black. Black was the color of his youth: the color of dark evenings in his refugee colony lit only by the faint light of a kerosene lamp; the color of a mind in torment living through poverty and social unrest. Sketching his siblings at home became an integral part of honing his skills as an art student. And throughout the five years of his training at the Government College of Art and Craft (1955-1960), he would do the same at the Sealdah Station – sketching refugees who came in from East Pakistan and made the station their home, while they awaited uncertain futures in a reluctant host nation. Though his family had by then settled into a house of their own in Dhakuria where they eked out a precarious living, he nevertheless deeply empathized with the plight of those stranded at the station and felt a strong connection with them.
His situation changed markedly later in life, but black stayed with him – giving new expression to his creativity after a period of existential crisis that he experienced in the interim phase between his defining years abroad in Paris (1965-1968, which included his time at S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17) and the commencement of his professional career in Madras after returning home in 1968. He felt a compelling need to develop an original style, which he discovered with cross-hatching and crisscrossing, even as he re-discovered the possibilities of ink on paper. From that point on, he used black “with supreme self-confidence”. What was thus a necessity, a default medium for a refugee youth - owing to the lack of resources - became a powerful tool of self-expression that would stamp his originality as an artist.
He has himself written eloquently about this in a long, contemplative essay, ‘Ki Aankhchhi, Keno Aankhchhi’ (What I am drawing, Why I am drawing) that was later published in the literary magazine Desh. Indeed, writing on/critiquing art has been an organic part of his decades-long practice. He has also had a chequered career in the arts. Beginning as a designer at the Weavers' Service Centre, Madras (1968-1972), he distinguished himself as a curator at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi (1972-1987), and then went on to become a teacher and administrator at Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan for the next three decades. He has been a mentor to many and is known for his generosity in encouraging and nurturing talent. In the last few years, Gallery Charubasona: Jogen Chowdhury Centre for Arts in Kolkata has become a dedicated platform for doing that.
Chowdhury has also never hesitated from lending his name to, or supporting, worthy causes. In 2022, he supported KPM in a significant way when he agreed to be the Chief Guest at the launch event of V-KPM at ICCR Kolkata, and also shared images of two of his artworks - sketches of refugees done in the 1950s - with the Visual Art Gallery of the Virtual museum.
We wish him a very happy Birthday and continued creative fulfilment in his work!