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Journalism of Courage
About three million people died of hunger and disease in that monumental man-made crisis. As he toured the famine-hit districts of undivided Bengal, the artist captured the haunting spectre of human suffering in hundreds of images and words.
Along the way history also forgot to pay its dues to this important image-maker who covered such significant events of our time as the Telangana uprising in 1946 and the Chittagong movement he took to puppet-making at a later stage in life. But no one ever attempted to compile his works, and today they lie scattered across Shantiniketan, various galleries, auction houses and rich homes.
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8226;nbsp;Sanjay Malik8217;s book on Chittaprosad is due out in January 2006 |
In sharp contrast to the sentimental romanticism of the Bengal School of Art, Chittaprosad8212;a self-taught artist who was denied admission to the Government College of Art and Shantiniketan for his close association with the Marxists8212;reported the famine with a depth that could only have been driven by conviction. Other than Zainul Abedin, the Shilparcharya, who became the principal of Dacca Art College, and Somnath Hore, a disciple of the artist, few have represented reality with such candour.
His observations, like his bold drawings, were incisive8212;be it the sketch of a granary he8217;d found after passing through 15 villages, or a girl he observed one night at a hospital in Shreenagar, standing in a corner waiting for her 8216;8216;long dead8217;8217; mother.
At times he was blunt 8216;8216;Syphilis was coming out of her face8217;8217;, but mostly he was interested in the tiniest details 8216;8216;The 60 families of Chaukbazar, Chinsura, Hooghly8230; worst sufferers8230; Golam Hossain suffering from TB and daughter dies of measles8212;income 1/4 daily, party member8217;8217;. For relief, he painted a rich man8217;s home with voyeuristic delight. On a new house built by one Shyamaprasad, he sketched and wrote: 8216;8216;Both sides of the room furnished with new mattress, pillows and tables and chairs. think before publishing about trespassing act!8217;8217;
Chittaprosad adopted traditional motifs and chose to make linocut drawings a symbol of his patriotism. As a member of the Indian Performance Theatre Association, he travelled to Chittagong to cover the 1943 peasant uprising, where, upon request by a party organiser, he illustrated several posters. And there in the middle of a rice field, Chittaprosad held his first exhibition, pasted on bamboo mats and propped up by bamboo stilts. In his diary, he wrote, 8216;8216;I had a doubt that rural people would understand the riddles of art8230; but the village spectators understood everything clearly and in great agitation they had been discussing things amongst themselves.8217;8217;
In the last years of his life, Chittaprosad felt 8216;8216;dejected and cheated8217;8217;. According to Gargi Mukherji, Chittaprosad8217;s niece, he was never paid for his original drawings for movies like Do Bigha Zameen. 8216;8216;Many bigwigs used to come to his house to get illustrations done but never returned to pay,8217;8217; says Mukherji.
There8217;s also little information about how Chittaprosad managed to survive without a regular source of income. His youngest sister, Gauri Chatterji, used to visit him three times a year to look after him and 8216;8216;stock up on food8217;8217;. He, according to the family, received a small royalty from the Prague National Museum, which was the first institution to take a step towards building a collection of his work.
Chittaprosad enjoyed his 8216;8216;big cup of black coffee8217;8217; while painting, which he did till the last days of his life. At Ruby Terrace, the artist8217;s now derelict Mumbai residence8212;his home after leaving Kolkata in 19468212;he fed overgrown weeds and loaves of bread to the mole rats in the garden so they wouldn8217;t eat his works.
However, a belated attempt is being made to piece together his life and works. Chittaprosad8217;s family, after a squabble over his legacy, finally sold his artworks to Ashis Anand, of Delhi Art Gallery. 8216;8216;Chittaprosad8217;s story would bring tears to anybody8217;s eyes,8217;8217; says Anand, who also commissioned a book on him. The author of the biography is Sanjay Malik, an art history professor at Shantiniketan. 8216;8216;Chittaprosad stood out because he used his brand of realism to the best effect to acknowledge reality,8217;8217; says Malik.
When Chittaprosad became gravely ill with bronchial asthma, Gauri brought him to Kolkata. She held an exhibition of her brother8217;s works at Kolkata8217;s Writer8217;s Building every year on his death anniversary till she died in the late 8217;90s. Before his death, Chittaprosad reportedly told her that 8216;8216;if she can8217;t keep the works, she must throw them in the Ganga8217;8217;. Chittaprosad died on November 13, 1978.
The obituary in Ganashakti, the mouthpiece of the CPI, read: 8216;8216;Chittaprosad dies at the age of 65, in Calcutta, Shishu Mangal Hospital. He was a member of the Communist Party. He was unmarried.8217;8217;
