https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Chittaprosad_BhattacharyaChittaprosad Bhattacharya - Revision history2026-07-31T10:03:44ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chittaprosad_Bhattacharya&diff=109020&oldid=prev>Billinghurst at 12:12, 21 April 20212021-04-21T12:12:28Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian leftist political artist and writer}}<br />
{{Infobox artist<br />
| name = Chittaprosad Bhattacharya<br />
| birth_name = Chittaprosad Bhattacharya<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|6|21|df=y}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Naihati]], [[India]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date|1978|11|13|df=y}}<br />
| death_place =<br />
}}<br />
'''Chittaprosad Bhattacharya''' was a political artist of the mid-20th century. He preferred watercolor and printmaking, avoiding oil on canvas. Chittaprosad used prints to disseminate [[leftist ideas]] and [[propaganda]].<ref name=multi2>''Manifestations II'', Roobina Karode, Delhi Art Gallery 2004, {{ISBN|81-902104-0-8}}</ref><br />
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==Early life==<br />
Born in 1915 in [[Naihati]] in present-day [[North 24 Parganas District]], [[West Bengal]],<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=Economic & Political Weekly|date= March 5, 2016 |volume= LI |number= 10 |first= Arup Kumar |last= Sen| title= Chittaprosad Bhattacharya (1915–78)}}</ref> Chittaprosad became radicalized as a student of the [[Chittagong Government College]] in the mid-1930s. He joined the grassroots movement 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.<ref name=multi2/> Due to his refusal to accept the discriminations of the [[Caste system in India|caste system]], Chittaprosad never used his Brahminical surname during his life.<ref name=multi1>''Manifestations I'', Santo Datta, Delhi Art Gallery, 2003, New Delhi</ref> He wrote articles and produced incisive cartoons and illustrations that displayed a natural talent for draughtsmanship.<ref name=multi2/><br />
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==Career and style==<br />
Chittraprosad’s most creative years began in the 1930s. He satirized and sharply criticized the [[Indian feudalism|feudal]] and [[British colonial system|colonial systems]] in quickly drawn but masterful pen and ink sketches. As an artist, and reformer, Chittaprosad was also proficient at creating linocuts and woodcuts with obvious propagandistic intent.<ref name=multi2/> Since these cheaply made prints were created for the masses, rather than the art gallery, they were seldom signed or numbered. With time, they took on commercial value as art, and today are prized by collectors.<ref>Collection of Indian Printmaking, [http://www.waswoxwaswoartcollection.blogspot.com www.waswoxwaswoartcollection.blogspot.com]</ref><br />
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In 1943, Chittaprosad covered the [[Bengal famine of 1943|Bengal Famine]] for various communist publications. This resulted in his first publication, Hungry Bengal. It was a sharply provocative attack on the political and social powers of the time, and the Indian authorities suppressed it nearly immediately, impounding and destroying large numbers.<ref name=multi3>''Manifestations III'', Geeta Doctor, Delhi Art Gallery, 2005, {{ISBN|81-902104-1-6}}</ref><br />
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Chittaprosad settled more permanently in Bombay from 1946 onward. The transformations that the [[Communist Party of India|Communist Party]] took between 1948 and 1949, caused the artist to disassociate himself, though he continued to pursue political themes in his art to the end of his life. In the years before his death, Chittaprosad devoted more and more time to the [[peace movement|world peace movement]],{{clarify|reason=What peace movement is that?|date=April 2021}} and various efforts to help impoverished children.<ref name=multi3/><br />
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He is represented in the [[National Museum (Prague)|National Museum]] in Prague, The [[National Gallery of Modern Art]] in New Delhi, Osians Art Archive in Mumbai, and the Jane and Kito de Boer Collection in Dubai.<ref name=multi2/><br />
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==References==<br />
<references /><br />
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{{Bengal famine of 1943|state=collapsed}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Chittaprosad}}<br />
[[Category:1915 births]]<br />
[[Category:1978 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:People from North 24 Parganas district]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali male artists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian cartoonists]]<br />
[[Category:Political artists]]</div>>Billinghurst