Modern Indian Art-No Reserve Auction
27th - 28th Jun, 2020
Winning Bid
Signed & Dated : Bottom Left
Provenance : Property from a private Mumbai based collection, artwork was acquired by the present owner from Saffronart.
Height of the figure - 6ft
Chittaprosad Bhattacharya was born in 1915 in Naihati in present-day, West Bengal. He was a student of
the Chittagong Government College in the mid-1930s. He joined several revolutionary movements to
resist both colonial oppression by the British, and also the feudal oppression of the landed Indian gentry.
Chittaprosad rejected the classicism of the Bengal School and its spiritual preoccupations. He disowned
the caste system and therefore never used his Brahmin urname during his life. He wrote articles and
produced incisive cartoons and illustrations that displayed a natural talent for draughtsmanship
Chittaprosad Bhattacharya is credited with being one of the most important Indian artists of his
generation because of his seamless objective translation of cause and effects of socio political tyranny.
Documenting the effects of Colonialism and the anguish of the 1943 Bengal famine, he helped draw
international attention to the country’s battle for independence from the British. However his work
never did receive institutional or critical recognition beyond the domestic boundary. Over the period of
time critics and historians have acknowledged his work’s importance, most notably his works have been
exhibited in Documenta 14. Throughout his practice the artist reflected and created works which were
political in nature, however during his final phase he predominantly worked upon the theme of world
peace and various efforts to help impoverished children.
Chittaprosad Bhattacharya’s works are part of the collections of the National Museum; Prague, The
National Gallery of Modern Art; New Delhi and the Jane and Kito de Boer Collection, Dubai to name a
few. The artist passed way in the year 1978.