Jogen Chowdhury’s Compelling Presence - A Retrospective Show (in 2016)
The retrospective is a comprehensive visual catalogue,
which offers a clear spectrum of Jogen Chowdhury’s artistic oeuvre, its
transformative nature and multiplicity of styles, motifs and ideas.
By Nalini S
Malaviya
The National
Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore is an aesthetically designed building set back
from the road in a quiet and green lung space right in the heart of the city.
It has become an active and important centre showcasing prominent art
exhibitions by artists of international repute. This is where Jogen Chowdhury’s
retrospective exhibition featuring more than two hundred works and spanning fifty
years is ongoing.
Jogenda finds an
interrelation and connectedness between all forms of art, whether music,
theatre, performing arts or literature. A writer and a poet as well, he writes poetry
in Bengali and has published several collections of poems. His art whether
paintings or poetry have a common thread of inspiration, which weaves both lines
and words in a fluid rhythm. And, as he says the temperament and personality of
the artist remains the same, even if the medium of expression varies.
Inspired by folk
arts and traditions which are often reflected in his art, he has worked as a
textile designer with the Weavers’ Service Centre, Chennai from 1968 to 1972,
and then as a curator of the art collection of Rashtrapati Bhavana, New Delhi from
1972 to 1987. This was before he moved to Santiniketan as a teacher in1987, and
although retired now, as an Emeritus Professor he is still actively involved
with the college.
The retrospective
is curated by Soumik Nandy Majumdar and Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, and the works
are categorised and displayed according to specific time periods and highlight
significant phases from Jogenda’s career. It is no mean feat to encapsulate and
present a prolific body of work, and at the same time classify and give a
certain direction to the entire output, especially when it extends over a large
timeline, such as this. Featuring works from Jogenda’s college days, studies
from nature, still life and portraits, the viewer has an opportunity to
appreciate and observe the progression, influences and transformative phases in
Jogenda’s visual vocabulary. From the academic line drawings in his early days,
the evocative self-portraits from over the years, the smudged lines to the cross
hatching, and thick, unbroken lines which he has come to be known for, the
exhibition offers the entire range.
Soumik Nandy Majumdar explains in his curatorial note, “Jogen
Chowdhury’s personal style can also be understood as a natural consequence of
his own affinity with the organic energies of life manifested in nature and an
incisive observation of life around. Even the pitch dark background or the
sagging people with distinctive facial features or female figures with
disturbing scars on their bodies have direct or oblique references to his own
traumatic experiences of life around. These references make his works edgy and
expressionistic often bordering on social and political satire. Through the
caricature-like look of many of his figures Jogen does ridicule the corrupt and
fraudulent characters he encounters in various social circuits. It is from the
same stylistic mode that he can endow his images with erotic underpinnings as
well.”
Clearly, having experienced trauma and significant social changes on a personal level, and having lived through the 1940s, a turbulent, transformative phase of modern Indian history, Jogenda has played an instrumental role in redefining the history of modern Indian art.
The line plays a
primary role in Jogenda’s works, as a tool to not merely outline but provide
volume, expression, character and emotion, conveying it effortlessly with variations
in the edges of the line - its roughness, change in bulk and intensity. The
imagery is vital and unembellished, often with minimal components and layered
with deeper connotations. The strong referencing in his works combined with
traditional stylised imagery make it more nuanced and potent.
For instance, ‘Homage
to Nandigram’ stands out as a powerful reminder of the horror and violence in Nandigram
in 2007. The series titled ‘Bakasur’ narrates the story of the bird demon – a
stark image of a fearsome bird with its tongue sticking out. Several drawings
feature a claw, a rigid, ruthless symbol of destruction and inhuman act. In a
few drawings the background is bedecked with sequins, glitter and bling, a
sharp contrast to the object in the foreground - a sword or a claw. Conflict,
social and political comments, human conditions and situations dominate the
narratives that are sometimes satirical.
The retrospective is a comprehensive display of artworks which offer a
clear spectrum of Jogenda’s visual language, its transformative nature and multiplicity
of styles, motifs and ideas. And, most importantly a visual catalogue of a lifetime
of experiences in an artist’s oeuvre.
The exhibition is on view till
May 22, 2016.
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Publishing this piece in memory of Jogenda, who passed away today (1939-2026).
Note: This article was written in 2016 for an art magazine, but it was unpublished due to certain editorial changes.
Images courtesy NGMA, Bengaluru
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