Untitled

Ramendranath Chakravorty was trained in etching, aquatint and drypoint from the famous printmaker Muirhead Bone, known for his work as a war artist in both the First and the Second World Wars. In 1943, he became the Principal at the Government School of Art, Calcutta and introduced graphic art into the curriculum of the school. Chakravorty’s prints display a confluence of artistic traditions—from the Santiniketan School, especially the woodcut prints of Nandalal Bose, and European idioms like pointillism and Impressionism. In this image, we see an artist at her studio. A shaft of light falls from behind her, onto the canvas, as she raises her hand to paint. Her slightly unfocused eyes create a pensive mood, as if she has been captured during an absent-minded moment.