Hojjathassanpour2023 at 00:44, 2 March 2026

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{{short description|20th-century Indian artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Bireswar Sen
|image = Bireswar_Sen.jpg
|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = 15 November 1897<ref name="Sansad">{{cite book | title=Sansad Bengali Charitabhidhan Vol.I | publisher= Sahitya Sansad,Kolkata | author= Subodhchandra Sengupta & Anjali Bose | year=2016 | pages=500 | isbn=978-81-7955-135-6}}</ref>
|birth_place = [[Kolkata]] (then Calcutta), [[India]]
|death_date = 10 September 1974
|death_place = [[Lucknow]] [[Uttar Pradesh]] [[India]]
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates =
|other_names =
|known_for =
|employer =
|occupation = Painter, teacher, writer
|education = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
|spouse =
|partner =
|children =
|parents =
|relatives =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}

'''Bireswar Sen''' (1897–1974) was an [[Indian people|Indian]] painter, writer, and teacher, who was influenced by the [[Bengal School of Art]] and Western modernism, but then later developed a unique visual language of miniatures. He depicted grand landscapes, mostly featuring the [[Himalayas]], on paintings measuring smaller than postcards.<ref name="livemint1">{{cite web|author=Tanuj Kumar |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mgFEEU9k9Heu57W7JkIAHI/Bireswar-Sen-and-Nicholas-Roerich-A-friendship-to-remember.html |title=Bireswar Sen and Nicholas Roerich: A friendship to remember |publisher=Livemint.com |date= 3 November 2017|accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref> Sen was popular and celebrated during his lifetime, but faded from public consciousness after his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-prodigy-from-the-past-1835819 |title=Prodigy from the past |publisher=Dnaindia.com |date= |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref>

However, there has been an increasing interest in his oeuvre, since the noted art historian [[B. N. Goswamy]] curated an exhibition of his works, titled ''Heaven and Earth: Himalayas and the Art of Bireswar Sen'', at the [[National Gallery of Modern Art]], [[New Delhi]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|author=Himanshu Bhagat |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/4Vy44dOzcDiY4VvGGRmchN/Very-big-very-small.html |title=Very big, very small |publisher=Livemint.com |date=2010-02-22 |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref>

==Early life==
Sen was born in [[Kolkata]] (then Calcutta), [[British India]], to Rai Bahadur Saileswar Sen, a professor of literature at [[Calcutta University]], and Niharnalini Sen.<ref name="Master of Mountains, Deccan Herald">{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/59054/master-mountains.html|title=Master of the mountains|date=20 March 2010|website=Deccan Herald}}</ref> He took up painting and drawing when young, but didn't pursue art formally. He went to [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he received an MA in English literature in 1921.
[[File:Bireswar Sen sketch.jpg|thumb|Portrait sketch of Bireswar Sen by L. M. Sen, published in ''Modern Review'' (1928)]]

==Career==

In 1923, Sen became an English lecturer at [[Bihar National College]] in [[Patna]], [[Bihar]]. During his teaching, Sen continued to paint and draw and later came into contact with the three Tagores: [[Abanindranath Tagore]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and [[Gaganendranath Tagore]]. He trained informally under modernist [[Nandalal Bose]] and Abanindranath, both of whom taught at the [[Indian Society of Oriental Art]].<ref name="dailypioneer1">{{cite web|author=The Pioneer |url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2017/vivacity/voyage-in-the-mountains.html |title=Voyage in the mountains |publisher=Dailypioneer.com |date= |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref>

Sen's miniature watercolours feature mountains, valleys and forlorn landscapes. He was inspired by the Himalayas and visited them continually throughout his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumsofindia.gov.in/repository/record/ngma_blr-acc-no-01950-473 |title=National Portal and Digital Repository: Record Details |publisher=Museumsofindia.gov.in |date= |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref> It was on one of his trips in 1932, when he met the Russian artist [[Nicholas Roerich]], who had settled in the Indian hill town of [[Naggar]] in [[Kullu]], [[Himachal Pradesh]]. Their meeting, and subsequent correspondence, left a lasting impact on Sen, both artistically and spiritually.<ref name="livemint1"/> Although he was inspired by Roerich, he never imitated Roerich's style, art historian Goswamy claims. "The fountain of his [Sen's] own ideas was different, his understanding of life of another order. Even in sheer physical terms, Bireswar’s work looked very different, small in scale as it was, and painted on paper in the wash technique," wrote Goswamy in an introductory essay.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100214/spectrum/art.htm |title=The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum |publisher=Tribuneindia.com |date= |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref>

===Re-evaluation of Sen's work===
Sen died in Kolkata on 10 September 1974. After his death, Sen's popularity diminished, and remained so until 2010, when the first posthumous retrospective was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. In 2016, his works were displayed in a show curated by B.N. Goswamy at the [[Crow Museum of Asian Art]], [[Dallas]], [[Texas]].<ref name="Dallas News, Bireswar Sen">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2016/01/14/bengali-artists-work-set-for-crow-collection/|title=Bengali artist's work set for Crow Collection|date=14 January 2016|website=Dallas News}}</ref> Then, in November 2017, a second retrospective, ''Reflections: Man And Nature In The Paintings Of Bireswar Sen'', comprising 80 works, was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New delhi, which further helped his works reach a wider and new audience.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ritika Kochhar |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/monumental-world-contained-in-bireswar-sen-s-miniature-landscapes-117092901249_1.html |title=Monumental world contained in Bireswar Sen's miniature landscapes | Business Standard News |publisher=Business-standard.com |date= 29 September 2017|accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref><ref name="dailypioneer1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/size-matters-bireswar-sen-4916177/ |title=Size Matters |publisher=Indianexpress.com |date=2017-11-01 |accessdate=2020-04-03}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bireswar Sen}}
* [https://www.bireswarsenart.com/about Bireswar Sen Family Trust website]
* [https://www.artsy.net/artist/bireswar-sen Artsy profile]
* [http://ngmaindia.gov.in/virtual-gallery-bireswar.asp Virtual exhibition, NGMA Delhi]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Bireswar}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Painters from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:Indian male painters]]
[[Category:Indian watercolourists]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male artists]]

Bireswar Sen - Revision history

Hojjathassanpour2023 at 00:44, 2 March 2026