Bikash Bhattachrajee

About

Bikash Bhattachrajee was a Kolkata based Indian artist. Bhattacharjee was also a highly dexterous and adept portrait painter. He has also achieved mastery in capturing the quality of light and his love for cinema had been the key stimulus behind this.

Bikash Bhattacharjee was born in Kolkata in 1940 and passed away in 2006. He lost his father at a very early age and his growing up years was quite struggling for him. From his early childhood, the rooftops and pathways of north Calcutta where he used live and spend his time. The crumbling walls of buildings and people living there left a long-lasting impact on his mind.

Education & Work

He graduated from Indian College of Art and Draftsmanship, in the year 1963. Later, in 1986, he joined the same college as professor. From 1973 to 1982, Bhattacharjee taught students of the Government College of Arts and Crafts. In 1964, he became a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists.

Realism was the main forte of Bhattacharjee. He drew stimulation for his work from his early lackluster days; wherein intense images of his struggling - the crumbling walls of buildings and the masses of people living there –highly influenced him.

His drawings form an appropriate outline to his paintings, divulging the predilection of the artist. Bhatacharjee has prudently expressed the textural effects of crayons, pastels and pencil using the mishmash of highlights and depths of passageways fabricated of unpredictable concentrations of line. His work portrays a powerful blend of realism and fantasy, wherein reality sets the ball rolling and fantasy helps the canvas undertake a new reality.

Undoubtedly, his subject was always coherent, decipherable, highlighted with realism to detailing along with an in-depth a sense of the dramatic touch. Feminine magnificence is a major fascination with him. However, he also painted a wide-ranging cast of characters on his canvases - old men and women, children, domestic help. The knack to for moralistic ambiance as a background to the characters intensifies the drama.

He has actively participated in solo exhibitions in ‘Bikash 2000’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; ‘Reflections’, Gallerie 88, Kolkata; Park Hotel, New Delhi; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; ‘Recent Works’, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Gallerie 88, Kolkata; Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai; Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai; ‘Doll Series’, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata and Kunika Chemould, New Delhi; Tata Iron and Steel Company, Jamshedpur; and ‘Environs’, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, to name a few.

Bikash also exhibited her heterogeneous artwork in various group exhibitions, including ‘Multimedia’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; ‘Colors of Independence’, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi; ‘Chamatkara’, Whitley’s Gallery, London, UK; ‘Fantasy’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; ‘Contemporary Miniatures’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; Wounds’, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi and Kolkata; ‘Trends and Images’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; Visions’, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; ‘Retrospective’, Mumbai; and India : Myth and Reality’, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, to name a few.

Awards and Accolades

In 2003, he was conferred with the highest award of Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Arts, the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship. He was awarded with several other prestigious awards, including D.Litt, Kalyani University, West Bengal, 2006; Life Time Achievement Award,Doordarshan, Kolkata, 2004; Nivedita Purashkar, Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashram,1990; Shiromani Puraskar, Asian Paints, 1989; Padma Shri, Government of India,1988; Bangla Ratna, 1987; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, 1972; National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1971 and Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, 1962.

View Similar Theme Artworks