Shobha Bhatia, who has curated an exhibition of Bimal Dasgupta’s works, reveals that his first lesson in art was creating animal motifs with tamarind seeds in Behrampore. This shaped him as a landscape artist of the future
It is said that from distance his paintings look like any series of Rorschach inkblot cards or any such psychological test cards but a closer look at these abstracts will reveal the mark of the genius and that they are actually based on landscapes. Bimal Dasgupta, who died in a car crash in 1995, was popular for his watercolour abstract works. Fondly called Bimal da, Dasgupta was known for his fantasy-inspired, highly introspective landscapes. Over 20 of his works will be on display at Gallerie Ganesha. These paintings are from Shobha Bhatia’s collection, who is also a director of the gallery. She says, “Dasgupta began the journey with watercolours as a student of art in Kolkata. His student years were spent with an uncle in Behrampore when he joined the Government Art School, Calcutta, in 1937 but could not complete the six-year course due to financial restrictions. It’s said that his parents discouraged him to become an artist and since there was no money for buying colours and canvases, he did several part time jobs to fund his art education. He painted landscapes that gave full rein to his penchant for nature and its fanciful shapes and colours. In fact, his first lesson in art was in the form of creating animal motifs with tamarind seeds in Behrampore which shaped him as a landscape artist of the future. Several of his paintings are surrealistic and abstract in his depiction of the teeming life underwater.”
In his depiction of landscapes, which are abstracted and highly stylised, signs of human habitation or suggestions of old structures and ruins are also noticeable. For example, in the midst of green and grey forests and wild growths, an illuminated face of devi — in fine red line — peeps through. Such dreamy, fantasy-inspired landscapes were his oeuvre for many decades — whether it is trees in full bloom or stony boulders inspired by ruins of Tughlakabad. Mountains and forests of lost geological epochs, huge floating icebergs, miniature flowers and fossil impressions of the ferns of a lost millennia were part of his canvas. Bhatia informs that the most remarkable aspect of Dasgupta’s art is that it reflects the true Indian ethos, one strong enough to assimilate tradition and modernity.
“Dasgupta felt that the decorative elements of his works or his material success were incidental. Standing before a dreamy mountain scene, one does not look either for the mountain or the monetary value of the piece. Each painting is like an encounter with an inner reality where there is no action, no pontificating. The only criterion is the ultimate truth,” explains Bhatia.
Earlier in his career as an artist, Dasgupta had also worked in oils and acrylics. He had to give up oils, when he developed an allergy to turpentine and linseed oil. Thereafter, he took up acrylic. But his preferred medium always remained watercolour. “He experimented a lot and worked with different styles but watercolour remained his favourite, though it’s difficult to work with the medium and create the kind of works that he did,” adds Bhatia.
Dasgupta is quoted to have said, “I believe if an artist has mastered one medium, he can work in the others as well. I paint only when I am in the mood. The colours are always there in my heart, an unseen power in the background drives me to put them down on canvas.”
Bhatia says that apart from landscapes, he also worked with tantrik art. “But they are very rare,” she adds. The exhibition will begin from August 14 and will continue till September 22.