Bansidhar Patra, renowned painter, designer and artist, breathed his last on December 28, but many art lovers of Odisha, Kolkata (where he was educated in art) and rest of the world could not notice this huge loss as the great artist, never in his life, was after publicity and recognition.
Late Dinanath Pathy, one of the greatest of the contemporary artists of the modern era, regarded him as one of his gurus. Famous artists like Amanta Panda, Harish Sinha, Shyamsundar Patnaik, Lokanatha Satpathy and Baishanb Samal were his contemporaries.
He was from Bhusandpur on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
One of his greatest contributions could be the fact that he modified the design of the masthead of the iconic Odia daily Rs Rs Samaja’’ as the-then manager of the old newspaper Artatrana Mishra had offered him the job to do.
Extraordinary in landscape and design and author of more than 700 poems in his life, the legendary artist was once offered a job to spread Indian art and traditional designs across the country by the Consulate General of the US in India, but the proposal could not be materialised due to family issues.