| Brief Description |
The collection of NGMA has close to 390 artworks of Mukul Dey which
include drawings, sketches and prints acquired by the museum from
the
artist's family and from other private art collections. The artist's
works include portraits and drawings of the renowned personalities
of
the time from diverse fields of politics, literature, science,
education
and also of the leading entrepreneurs, acquaintances, family members
and
friends. Apart from the portraits the collection also has paintings
executed in the Bengal School style portraying landscapes especially
of
the Bengal countryside, the native people in all their glory, the
flora
and fauna, the saints and Bauls preaching wisdom through the
villages,
the monuments and also those narrating the religious fables, the
folk
tales and customs of the land.
This print portrays an elderly woman wearing heavy drapery. |
| Detailed Description |
Mukul Dey is known as the pioneer of printmaking in India for introducing the knowledge of graphics, particularly of dry point and etching acquired from his study in England and his extensive tours to America, Europe and Japan. His works assimilate the best of western technical skills and Indian thought as reflected in his paintings and graphic prints. With his exquisite drawing skills, Mukul Dey started painting portraits early in his career and continued it all through life making a living out of his art. He made portraits of famous personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, to name a few. The artist is also known for popularising the concept of printmaking in India and produced several reproductions of the portraits of the famous personalities he had done. He also developed prints narrating the Indian subjects and themes, particularly acclaimed are those of the Bengali women, the street corners of Bengal, the rivers, Santhals and the cityscape of Calcutta with its colonial monuments, busy by lanes and the river front. His works were also published in reputed journals as Prabashi, Bharati and Modern Review. Mukul Dey also has to his credit publications as: My Pilgrimages to Ajanta and Bagh (London 1925), My Reminiscences (Calcutta 1938), Dry points and Drawings from the Life of Mahatma Gandhi (Calcutta, 1948), Birbhum Terracotta (New Delhi 1957), Indian Life and Legends (1974). The artist was also an avid art collector particularly of the rural folk paintings of Bengal, handicrafts and the works produced by the artists of the Bengal School. |
