A Painter from Bengal : Bikash Bhattacharjee

Bikash Bhattacharjee, holder of two of the most prestigious awards: National Award and Padma Shri
amongst many others, is a renowned Indian painter known for his spectacular depiction of reality as
well as surrealism. Despite being born in Kolkata struck amidst a political turmoil and losing his
father at an early age didn’t stop him from discovering his true calling. Supported by his mother, a
lifelong friend in Katayun Saklat (his classmate), and Arun Basu (his college teacher), who
sharpened his existing talent, Bikash brought out the very best in him. His remarkable quality of
portraying real life objects onto the canvas with an immaculate exactness had the experts and
audience stunned to their senses alike. Over the years, he even took up a role as a teacher and
continued the same for more than a decade. His paintings reflected the life of average middle-class
Bengali - their aspirations, superstitions, hypocrisy and corruption, and even the violence that is rife
to Kolkata.

Early Life
Bikash Bhattacharjee was born on 21st June, 1940 in North Calcutta, in a politically turbulent West
Bengal. Having lost his father at the age of 6, it wasn’t exactly easy growing up with crumbling riches
of his household and Hindu-Muslim riots that led to the partition of Bengal and eventually, to national
independence. Having seen pretty much everything which children of this age aren’t ideally
supposed to be seeing, agonizing sights of huge masses flooded over railway stations and even
deaths during the post independence traumatic era, Bikash had developed a deep sense of
insecurity and empathy for the underprivileged. One day as usual, strolling down the dark
neighborhood lanes in search of something unknown, he came across a sit-and-draw competition
and apparently became the first runner up in it. Encouraged by his mother, it quickly dawned on him
where his future lied and in pursuit of it Bikash joined Indian College of Art and Draftsmanship in
1958 and completed it in 1963, with a diploma in fine arts. A year later, he became a member of the
Society of Contemporary Artists.

Career
Despite a teaching career of more than a decade: 4 years at Indian College of Art and
Draftsmanship and 9 years at Government College of Art & Craft; it was Bikash’s surreal painting
career that made him a name he is today. Coming face to face with harsh realities at an early
childhood; he possessed an exceptional grasp over depicting objects and people the way they
appeared in real life: a quality that remained his strong suit till the end. Bikash always thought of
himself as an incurable optimist and the same could not keep itself from being manifested in the way
he drew. In addition to this, inclusion of feminine beauty with a balance of spiritualism and sensuality
in quite a lot of his work was evidence to his preoccupation to the same.

Bikash had tasted success early on during his painting career with the Doll series, followed by the
Durga series. It was in the year 1965 that his solo exhibition was held at Kolkata. Along with the
paintings depicting hyper-realism, he was also exceptional in portrait paintings and it’s visible in his
paintings of other artists like Rabindra Nath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Samaresh Babu, and Indira
Gandhi. He also created painted illustrations for a novel on the life of Ramkinker Baij. Indian
recognition wasn’t all he got; as his works even gained an international audience when they were
exhibited across the countries and cities like Paris, London, New York, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
Romania, and Hungary. It was his unrestrictive quality to work with an array of mediums like oil on
canvas and board, tempera paint, pastels, water colors, crayons, and pencils and blending in realism
with surrealism that gave him mastery over the art.

Last Days
It was in 2000 that Bikash suffered a cerebral attack that left him paralyzed, unable to paint. On 18th
December 2006, he passed away following a prolonged illness. He is survived by his wife Parbati, a
son and a daughter.